THE DOCTRINE 



HIGHER CHRISTIAN LIFE 



COMPARED WITH 



THE TEACHING OF THE HOLY 
SCRIPTURES. 



BY 

REV. ALVAH HOVEY. 



Won galtti, stti cursn, aU aetljera tenlietts. 



^^i"^ ! 



BOSTON: 
HENRY A. YOUNG & CO., 

26 School Street. 






COPYRIGHT. 

HENRY A. YOUNG & CO. 

1876. 



Tre Library 

Ot CONCRRSS 
WASHINGTON 



Stereotyped atid printed by 

Rand, Avery, and Company, 

117 Fran/din Street, 

Boston. 



PREFACE. 



Much the larger part of this examination was 
pubUshed in "The Journal and Messenger " in 1873, 
and also read before the Massachusetts Baptist Min- 
isters' Institute in 1874. Since then, the writer has 
been asked more than once to give the discussion a 
permanent form ; and there seems to be some reason 
for doing this, in the circumstance that the doctrine 
examined is said to be gaining adherents among the 
people. If this be so, it should be closely studied in 
the light of God's Word ; and the following pages 
may perhaps furnish assistance to Christians in seek- 
ing to ascertain the meaning of certain passages of 
Scripture which are appealed to in proof of a 
" second conversion " and a consequent " higher 
Christian life." They may be called Biblical studies 
with reference to a particular theory of the method 
of divine grace, and are committed to the reader in 
the hope that he will find them useful. 

Alvah Hovey. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE. 

Introductory . . .7 

Division into Two Classes 17 

Degree of Sanctification claimed . . . • 52 

Scriptural Proofs examined 64 

Paul and John 79 

Evidence of Experience 103 

Evidence of Obbervation . . . . . .115 

Progressive Sanctification . . * . . , 129 



"THE HIGHER LIFE." 



INTRODUCTORY. 

TN undertaking a comparison of the doctrine 
-^ of " The Higher Christian Life," as it is 
sometimes called, with the teachings of the Word 
of God, the writer is deeply sensible of many 
perils lying in his way ; for such a comparison 
must involve a certain amount of controversy, 
and controversy is very apt to lead those who 
engage in it to adopt partial views of truth. 
Moreover, this peril is not confined to those who 
engage in the discussion : it extends to all who 
take a lively interest in the question, and can 
only be shunned by constant watchfulness and 
supreme love of the truth. Hence the writer is 
extremely anxious to treat the subject in such a 
manner that those who agree with him may have 

7 



INTR on UC TOR V. 



their sense of obligation to live a holy life, and 
their hope of rapid growth in grace, strengthened, 
while those who disagree with him may be prof- 
ited in some way rather than irritated and injured. 
The task is plainly a difficult one, but by the 
blessing of God it may perhaps be accomplished. 
But why should this task be undertaken at 
all? For two reasons. Fhsl, the question at 
issue between those who advocate the doctrine 
of ''the higher life," and those who reject it, is 
one of great practical importance. This might 
be said of almost every question which relates to 
the substance of Christian truth ; but it can be 
affirmed with special emphasis of the one now 
under consideration, for its bearing on religious 
character and life is both direct and powerful. 
The type of piety exhibited by those who receive 
the doctrine may be easily distinguished from 
the type of piety seen in earnest Christians who 
reject it ; and the connection between doctrine 
and life, in both cases, is very manifest. This, 
then, is one reason for the present discussion : 
the question at issue is of great practical mo- 
ment. And, second, there are many sincere 



INTR OD UC TORY. 9 

Christians whose minds are perplexed on this 
subject. Desirous of ascertaining, if possible, 
whether the doctrine in question is true or false, 
they wish to have it carefully examined in the 
light of God's Word, in order that, if found to be 
true, they may receive it, and, if false, reject it. 
The prospect of doing something to satisfy the 
desire of these brethren, by removing doubt and 
perplexity from their minds, is a strong and pre- 
vaihng reason for attempting to compare the 
doctrine of " the higher life " with the language 
of the Sacred Oracles. Even partial success in 
such an undertaking would be a great reward. 
To these reasons may properly be added the re- 
mark that religious discussion, with all its perils, 
is not only serviceable in defending the truth, 
but also conducive to a better knowledge of the 
truth itself. Its effect in the latter direction is 
often remote, but generally certain. 

POINTS OF AGREEMENT. 

Before describing those features of the doctrine 
of " the higher life " from which the writer feels 
himself compelled to dissent, it will be proper to 



I o INTRO D UC TOR Y. 

mention a few points of agreement between that 
doctrine and his own, that the reader may be in 
possession of the whole subject, and be able to 
estimate correctly the divergence of the former 
view from the latter. And, first, the piety of 
many persons who must be esteemed Christians 
is mournfully defective. Their faith in the 
promises of God is weak, their hope of eternal 
life faint, and their love to the souls of men in- 
operative. They make no visible progress in the 
divine life. They give no evidence, by word or 
deed, that " the joy of the Lord is their strength," 
or that " the kingdom of God," as known by 
them, "is righteousness, and peace, and joy in 
the Holy Ghost." After years of connection 
with the church, they remain babes in Christ, 
having little more strength than when they first 
tasted the good word of God, and the powers of 
the world to come. Thus they appear to be like 
the Hebrew Christians, who were still ignorant 
and immature when they ought to have been al- 
ready well instructed and able to distinguish the 
truth from error (Heb. v. 12-14). It is and must 
be for a lamentation, that so many of the Lord's 



INTRO D UCTOR Y. 1 1 

redeemed ones know so little in the present life, 
of the exceeding riches of his grace toward them 
that believe. This course of thought anticipates 
a second point of agreement ; namely, that the 
experience of Christians, immediately after con- 
version, is not the highest which they should 
expect in this life. However sweet and joyous 
it may be, this experience is the sparkling brook 
rather than the mighty river ; and every affluent 
from the hills of providence on the one hand, or 
of grace on the other, should increase its volume 
and power. The work of renewal is only begun, 
not finished, by regeneration. This is the doc- 
trine of the Bible, as well as of nature ; and 
therefore every Christian should expect to " grow 
in the grace and knowledge of Christ " until the 
hour of his death. But many do not look or 
seek for this. Many live as if they supposed 
the work of sanctification to be carried as far, at 
the moment of the new birth, as it will ever be 
carried on the shores of time. Such a view, it 
is almost needless to repeat, has no support in 
the Word of God, and no analogy in the consti- 
tution and course of nature. It cannot, there-. 



1 2 INTR OD UC TOR V. 

fore, be deprecated and opposed too heartily. A 
t/iird point of agreement may be found in the 
belief that sanctification is wrought by the Spirit 
of God. As he regenerates the soul by impart- 
ing to it a holy disposition, so he carries on the 
work thus begun by increasing the power of that 
disposition, and subduing the evil tendencies 
which oppose it. Hence love, joy, peace, long- 
suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meek- 
ness, temperance, are said to be the fruit of the 
Spirit. Hence also it is said that the Spirit is 
opposed to the flesh, and the flesh to the Spirit. 
Turning away, then, from the question of means 
and modes, it is important to observe that those 
who accept the doctrine of "the higher life" 
agree with those who reject it, in ascribing the 
work of sanctification to the Holy Spirit. A 
fourth point of agreement may be discovered in 
the belief that sanctification is complete before 
the soul enters Paradise. No relish for evil, no 
selfish or sinful desire, will pollute the spirit when 
it bids adieu to the present state, and enters into 
rest. Yet the agreement in this fourth particu- 
lar may not be perfect. Christians who profess 



INTRO D UCTOR V. 13 

to enjoy "the higher Hfe" commonly hold that 
sanctification is completed in every case before 
the moment of death, while many others believe 
that it is completed in the very article of death, 
— a difference of much greater importance than 
it seems to be at first sight. In his works, vol. 
vi. pp. 531, 532, Mr. Wesley thus speaks of Chris- 
tian Perfection: "I believe this perfection is 
always wrought in the soul by a simple act of 
faith ; consequently in an instant; But I believe 
[in] a gradual work, both preceding and following 
that instant. As to the time, I believe this 
instant generally is the instant of death, the 
moment before the soul leaves the body. But I 
believe it may be ten, twenty, or forty years 
before." Probably he intended to explain the 
words, " instant of death," by the words, " mo- 
ment before the soul leaves the body." 

POINTS OF DIFFERENCE. 

Having noticed a few points in which the 
writer agrees substantially with those who 
teach the doctrine of "the higher life," it is 
now desirable to fix attention on the two great 



1 4 INTR OD UC TOR K 

features of this doctrine which seem to him 
unscriptural and dangerous. The first feature 
is its division of Christians into two distinct 
classes ; one embracing the few believers in 
Christ who have experienced a seeond spiritual 
change, subsequent and analogous to their j 
regeneration, but raising them to a definitely 
higher plane of holy living ; and the other era- 
bracing the many believers in Christ who have 
not experienced this change, but remain on the 
lower plane of ordinary Christian life. And the 
second feature is its estimate or account of 
the moral state of those embraced in the former 
class ; for it assigns to them a degree of faith 
and devotion which is described now as " Chris- 
tian perfection," then as " entire consecration," 
now as " perfect trust," and then as " perfect 
love," but always as something which separates' 
them by a vast interval from Christians who 
still mourn over the weakness of their faith, and 
plead with God for the pardon of their daily 
sins. 



INTRODUCTORY, 1$ 

OBJECTION AND REPLY. 

These are the two distinctive features of the 
doctrine, and therefore it is necessary to com- 
pare them with the representations of Christian 
hfe in the New Testament. If they agree with 
those representations, it is the duty of every 
Christian to accept them ; if they do not, it is 
equally the duty of every one to reject them. 
But at this point a difficulty is sometimes met. 
Must not experience, it is asked, count for some- 
thing in the interpretation of Scripture ? If an 
affirmative answer must be given to this ques- 
tion, can any one who has not experienced the 
blessing of entire sanctification be supposed to 
understand the Bible, if it speaks of this bless- 
ing } and is it not the duty of those who have 
not attained " the higher life," to take the testi- 
mony of those who have, as to the reality and 
perfection of it? To meet the difficulty thus 
suggested, it may be said, first, that spiritual 
discernment is possessed in some degree by all 
who have been created anew in Christ Jesus ; 
secondl}', that the writings of the New Testa- 



1 6 INTR on UC TOR V. 

ment were nearly all addressed to ordinary 
instead of eminent Christians, and were adapted 
to their spiritual state ; thirdly, that the Bereans, 
though recently converted, were praised by Luke 
for testing the doctrine of an apostle by com- 
paring it with the ancient Scriptures ; fourthly, 
that the history of our religion proves it to be 
the duty of every believer to study the Sacred 
Oracles for himself, with a confident hope, that, 
doing this in a right spirit and with proper care, 
he will learn the truth ; fifthly, that it. is quite as 
easy for a good man to interpret the Word of 
God as to interpret his own experience, to deter- 
mine the sense of inspired language as to deter- 
mine the degree of holiness in his own heart; 
and, finally, that nearly all religious enthusiasts 
and fanatics plead in their defence an inward 
light or experience which enables them to find 
in the Scriptures truth hidden from others. It 
does not, then, savor of arrogance for any honest 
believer in Christ to test the doctrines which he 
is asked to receive, by placing them side by side 
with the Word of God. 



DIVISION INTO TWO CLASSES. 

STATEMENT OF THE QUESTION. 

TT is conceded by all that faith, hope, and love 
^ are capable of growth in a soul which has 
been regenerated by the Spirit of God. It is 
also admitted that some believers in Christ are 
manifestly in advance of others, apprehending 
more truth, feeling more trust, having more zeal, 
and doing more service. Christian experience 
does not conduct man, as by a straight path, 
across a level plane, to a point no higher than 
the one which he left at conversion. There is 
progress into a higher and a purer state ; and 
the question now to be answered concerns the 
method or law of that progress. Are Christians 
in the present state living on one and the same 
plane, sloping upward to the height of perfection 
by a gradual ascent, or are they living on two 
separate planes, one far above the other ? The 

2* 17 



l8 DIVISION INTO TWO CLASSES. 

latter is understood to be the view of brethren 
who profess to enjoy what is called "the higher 
life." Into the experience of this life they be- 
lieve that Christians enter by a distinct change, 
subsequent and analogous to regeneration. This 
change is thought to be described in the New 
Testament by such expressions as these : being 
" renewed " by the Spirit, " sealed " by the Spirit, 
*' transformed " by the Spirit, or " baptized " in 
the Spirit. In order, then, to test the correct- 
ness of their belief, the language of Scripture 
must be closely examined ; and this may be 
done conveniently by endeavoring to ascertain 
whether the ordinary style of the apostles 
favors this division of Christians into two sepa- 
rate classes, and then, whether the particular 
expressions enumerated above point to such a 
division. 

CLASSES OF CHRISTIANS. 

Do the Scriptures, and especially the writings 
of the apostles, separate Christians into two 
great classes .? The epithets which are applied 
by Paul to the Christians in Rome, in Corinth, 



DIVISION INTO TWO CLASSES. 19 

in Philippi, in Ephesus, are very strong, and 
seem to be used indiscriminately of all those 
addressed. These are recognized as " the saints," 
or "holy ones," the "called," the "justified," the 
" sanctified," the " washed," the " holy brethren," 
as " new creatures," and as " temples of the Holy 
Ghost." These expressions, and others of similar 
import, seem to be applied to all addressed, in 
consideration of their faith in Christ. Whole 
churches are saluted as if they were composed 
exclusively of persons who were justified, sancti- 
fied, holy, even when they are afterward reproved 
for manifold sins. It is natural, therefore, to 
suppose that the terms used were meant to be 
expressive of the legal state and prescribed 
character of those in the churches, of what was 
now their standing in Christ, and of what they 
were certain to become by his grace. They 
were represented as belonging to the class of the 
holy, not because they were such already in fact, 
seen by themselves, but because they were such 
in germ and in prospect, by virtue of the in- 
dwelling Spirit, who had begun the work of 
sanctification, and would surely carry it on until 
the day of final redemption. 



20 DIVISION INTO TWO CLASSES. 

There is, however, in certain passages an inti- 
mation that some believers are "perfect," while 
others are less advanced, or only " babes " in 
Christ ; but the term " perfect," like the terms 
" holy," " sanctified," and the like, is obviously 
used in a qualified sense and denotes a mature 
Christian, well grounded and well instructed in 
the gospel of salvation. It is applicable not to 
novices in Christian life and doctrine, but to 
those who have made considerable progress, and, 
"by reason of use, have their senses exercised to 
discern both good and evil." In this sense Job 
was perfect, David was perfect, and the apostles, 
with many of the early Christians, were perfect ; 
but not in the sense claimed by those who advo- 
cate the doctrine of "the higher life," not as 
having an experience specifically distinct from 
that of other saints. Indeed, the word " perfect " 
is used in a broader sense than either " justified " 
or " sanctified," since it characterizes one as fit 
for a particular service, whether that serv^ice 
require mental, spiritual, or other qualities in 
him who undertakes it. It may be necessary to 
recur in another connection to the biblical use of 



DIVISION INTO TWO CLASSES. 21 

this word ; but for the present it is enough to 
say, that a close examination of the passages in 
which the apostles refer to certain Christians as 
" the perfect " will make it evident that ,±hey 
ascribe to them nothing more than a high degree 
of Christian experience, understanding, matu- 
rity, without any allusion to a second renewal, or 
to complete holiness of heart. Hence the ques- 
tion proposed above must be answered in the 
negative. The Scriptures, and especially the 
writings of the apostles, do not separate Chris- 
tians into two great classes, but rather treat 
them as all one in Christ, as justified, sanctified, 
saved, when viewed from the divine side, but as 
being sanctified and being saved when viewed 
from the human side. 

RENEWAL OF CHRISTIANS. 

Do the Scriptures speak of a " renewal " of 
Christians, distinct from, and subsequent to, 
their regeneration t And, if so, what is the 
character of this renewal } An answer to these 
questions may be found in certain passages of 
the New Testament ; but that answer will not 



22 DIVISION INTO TWO CLASSES. 

agree with the doctrine of " the higher hfc." In 
Titus iii. 5, Paul asserts that salvation is effected 
" by the washing of regeneration, and renewing 
of the Holy Ghost ; " thus distinguishing, it is 
said, the work of " regeneration " from a subse- 
quent work of the Spirit called "renewal." 
This, however, is a doubtful interpretation of the 
apostle's language, it being quite as natural to 
refer both terms, " regeneration " and " renewal," 
to the same act of the Spirit. For two or more 
words of slightly different meaning are often 
used for the sake of emphasis, in describing the 
same event, especially when, as in the present 
case, the different words each present striking 
aspects of that event. But, even if the two words 
here employed denote separate acts of the 
Spirit, the latter may refer to a process by which 
the former is completed. There is nothing in 
the apostle's language to forbid the supposition 
that the word "renewing" signifies a gradual, 
protracted work of sanctification. ending only 
with life. 

Indeed, this interpretation of his words to Titus 
is favored by a passage in his second letter to 



DIVISION INTO TWO CLASSES. 23 

the Corinthians, iv. 16, which may be translated 
thus : " For this cause we faint not ; but, though 
our outward man is perishing, yet the inward is 
being renewed day by day." A process of decay 
in the one part of his being, a process of 
renewal in the other ! And the latter must be 
what is commonly spoken of as "growth in 
grace," or the process of sanctification ; not a 
saltus, not a sudden vaulting from one plane of 
experience to another; but a growth "day by 
day," month by month, year by year, till the 
body is laid aside by death. 

This, too, is the only natural view to be taken 
of Paul's language in the preceding chapter of 
the same letter, iii. 18: " But we all with open 
face, beholding as in a glass the. glory of the 
Lord, are changed into the same image, from 
glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord." 
The apostle is here speaking of Christians, as 
such, in contrast with Jews. A veil was still 
upon the hearts of the latter, when Moses was 
read ; but in the gospel the former, with unveiled 
face, beheld as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, 
and were inwardly transformed from one degree 



24 DIVISION liWTO TWO CLASSES. 

of glory, or likeness to Christ, to another ; and 
this progressive sanctification, through the truth 
of the gospel, was wrought by the Lord, the 
Spirit The note of Alford is correct : " The 
change here spoken of is a spb'itiial one, not the 
bodily change at the resurrection ; it is going 
on here in the process of sanctification ; " and 
again, " The process of renewal after Christ's 
image is such a transformation as may be ex- 
pected from the agency of the Lord, the Spirit ; 
Christ himself being the image." See chap, 
iv. 4. 

In obvious agreement with these passages is 
the language of Paul in Col. iii. 9, 10 : " Lie not 
one to another, seeing that ye have put off the 
old man with his deeds, and have put on the 
new man, who is being renewed unto knowledge 
after the image of him who created him." The 
translation given is that of the Bible Union, with 
which that of Alford and that of Noyes are 
nearly identical ; and it is clear, from this im- 
proved rendering of the Greek original, that the 
" renewal " was conceived of by the apostle as 
continuous, progressive, and therefore incom- 



DIVISION INTO TWO CLASSES. 25 

plete in all those whom he was addressing. 
Nay, more : by the exquisite precision of his 
language he describes the act of " putting off 
the old man and putting on the new man " as 
completed in the past, that is, at conversion ; 
while the renewal is described as both present 
and incomplete: "Ye did put off the old man 
with his deeds, and did put on the new man, 
who is being renewed," &c. 

With these characteristic expressions of Paul 
may be joined the exhortation of Peter in his 
second epistle, iii. 18 : ''But grow in the grace 
and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus 
Christ." Here the grace and knowledge of 
Christ are represented as the atmosphere or 
element in which Christians are exhorted to 
grow ; and this growth must be a gradual in- 
crease of faith, love, hope, and joy, with their 
natural fruit, holy conduct. 

SEALING OF CHRISTIANS. 

Do the Scriptures speak of certain Christians 
as being '' sealed " by the Spirit after their re- 
generation 1 And, if so, what was the nature of 



26 DIVISION INTO TWO CLASSES. 

this blessing ? President Mahan, in his work on 
" The Baptism of the Holy Ghost," lays great 
stress on Eph. i. 13: "In whom ye also trusted, 
after that ye heard the word of truth, the 
gospel of your salvation ; in whom also, after 
that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy 
Spirit of promise." " Here," he says, " we 
have the order of facts as developed in actual 
experience, — as the hearing, then the believing, 
then finally, after believing, the sealing with the 
Holy Spirit of promise. . . . when God gives 
his Spirit, that is, his seal to the fact that the 
believer has been ' accepted in the beloved,' and 
is in covenant relations with ' the Father of 
lights.' Until this gift is received, we have no 
token from God that our sins are blotted out, 
and we his sons and daughters." It is scarcely 
necessary to remark that Dr. Mahan identifies 
this " sealing " with the " baptism of the Holy 
Ghost," and with entrance into '' the higher life." 
Indeed, he adds, " It would evince infinite pre- 
sumption in us to hope in God, and not receive 
from him, as we may do, absolute assurance of 
the validity of our hope." 



DIVISION INTO TWO CLASSES. 27 

But the passage in Ephesians has no reference 
to " the higher Hfe," as explained by Dr. Mahan. 
Strictly translated, it reads thus : " In whom ye 
also [as well as we], when ye heard the word of 
truth, the gospel of your salvation — in whom [I 
say] when ye also believed [as well as heard] ye 
were sealed with the Holy Spirit of the prom- 
ise." There is no evidence afforded by this text 
that any interval of time elapsed between the 
act of believing and the act of sealing. It is, 
however, not improbable that many of the 
Ephesian converts had received certain extraor- 
dinary gifts by the Spirit at their baptism, and 
that these are referred to by the apostle ; for, as 
in the case of Cornelius, such gifts would be 
strong evidence of the new life of Christ. If the 
expression, " Ye were sealed with the Holy 
Spirit " who was promised, was meant for all the 
members of the church in Ephesus, there was 
but one class of Christians there ; but, if it was 
meant for a part of them only, it is most natural 
to presume that those who had received "■ spirit- 
ual gifts " — as the power to speak with tongues 
or to prophesy — were in the apostle's mind. 



2S DIVISION INTO TWO CLASSES. 

This will be yet more evident when the baptism 
of the Holy Ghost is considered. 

The following remarks of Archbishop Whate- 
ly appear to be very just. After quoting the 
words of Paul, " Know ye not that ye are the 
temple of the Holy Ghost, which dwelleth in 
you ? " and other passages referring to the in- 
dwelling and sanctifying of the Spirit, he pro- 
ceeds thus : " Now, all this was so opposite to 
all their former notions, so strange to all their 
habits of thought, that they might well need 
some special assurance of such a doctrine as 
this, — some support against the uneasy doubts 
and suspicions which might suggest the ques- 
tion, ' Is the Lord among us, or not ? ' And 
such an assurance was graciously afforded them 
in the sensible testimony of his presence, which 
God displayed by conferring powers manifestly 
miraculous. Not, however, be it observed, that 
they were to regard their extraordinary gifts 
as the only or as the most important instance 
of spiritual influence, but as the proof and pledge 
of it. The truly important benefit was the 
sanctification by the Spirit, with a view to eter- 



DIVISION INTO TWO CLASSES. 29 

nal life. The miracidoiLs power was the seal and 
earnest of that benefit, — the sign and notifica- 
tion, as it were, that the treasure had been be- 
stowed ; not the treasure itself." (P. 240, " Es- 
says on Difficulties in the Writings of Paul.") 

The sacred writers do not, then, by their gen- 
eral style of address, separate believers in Christ 
into two great classes, one embracing a vast 
majority of " the saints," and the other embra- 
cing a small number who have entered upon "the 
higher life ; " nor do they point to a transition 
from one of these states to the other by speaking 
of Christians as being "renewed" or "sealed." 

BAPTISM OF THE SPIRIT. 

But, in examining the arguments employed by 
those who advocate the doctrine under consid- 
eration, another question presents itself, viz. : — 

Do the Scriptures speak of a " baptism in the 
Spirit " after regeneration, as something to be 
expected by all Christians to the end of time } 
President Mahan, in his work on " The Baptism 
of the Holy Ghost," answers this question in the 
affirmative, with a positiveness of assurance 
3* 



30 DIVISION INTO TWO CLASSES. 

which might be natural in one who had the gift 
of inspiration. But a repeated and prayerful 
study of the record has constrained the writer to 
reject this answer, or at least to modify it so 
greatly that Dr. Mahan would find it of no 
service whatever in defending his theory. The 
results of this study will now be given as briefly 
and clearly as possible. 

According to every one of the evangelists, 
John the Baptist proclaimed beforehand that his 
greater successor would baptize in the Holy 
Ghost (Matt. iii. lo, 12 ; Mark i. 7, 8 ; Luke iii. 
16 ; John i. 33). According to the Gospel of 
John, the Saviour himself promised to send the 
Comforter, the Spirit of the truth, after his de- 
parture, to the disciples, to recall his words to 
their minds, to show them things to come, and 
to guide them into all the truth (John xiv. 26, 
xvi. 13). According to Luke in his Gospel, and 
in the Acts, this "promise of the Spirit" by 
Christ referred to the same thing as the " bap- 
tism in the Spirit," predicted by the harbinger 
of Jesus (Luke xxiv. 49 ; Acts i. 4, 5) ; and 
according to Peter this baptism in the Spirit, or 



DIVISION- INTO TWO CI ASSES. 31 

power from the Holy Ghost, was foretold by the 
prophet Joel, and fulfilled on the day of Pentecost 
(Acts ii. 16, 33). Let the reader examine for 
himself the passages quoted in support of the 
statements just made, that he may be sure of 
their meaning. For, if the baptism of the Spirit 
foretold by John was identical with the work of 
the Spirit promised by Christ, it certainly em- 
braced the gift of inspiration, and, indeed, the 
other miraculous gifts of the first age. That it 
included the gift of inspiration, may be learned 
from the description of the Spirit's work in the 
promise of Christ, from the command which 
the apostles received from their Lord to tarry in 
Jerusalem without entering upon their official 
work until that promise was fulfilled, from the 
miraculous gifts conferred by the Spirit on the 
day of Pentecost, from Peter's explanation of 
the wonders of that day, and from similar gifts 
afterward bestowed. Every one of these points 
deserves earnest consideration. 



32 DIVISION INTO TWO CLASSES. 

INSPIRATION DESCRIBED IN THE PROMISE. 

The language which the Saviour used in de- 
scribing the work of the promised Spirit shows 
that the giving of inspiration was a chief part of 
that work. " But the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, 
whom the Father will send in my name, he will 
teach you all things, and bring to your remem- 
brance all things which I said to you." " When 
the Comforter is come, the Spirit of the truth, 
he will bear witness of me. And ye also shall 
bear witness, because ye are with me from the 
beginning." '' I have yet many things to say to 
you, but ye cannot bear them now. But when 
he, the Spirit of the truth, is come, he will guide 
you into all the truth ; for he will not speak from 
himself, but whatever he shall hear that will he 
speak, and he will tell you the things to come. 
He will glorify me ; because he will receive of 
mine, and will tell it to you." 

This language is perfectly transparent. The 
promised Spirit was to recall and reveal Christian 
truth to the minds of the apostles. Hence he is 
called in this discourse, and nowhere else in the 



DIVISION INTO TWO CLASSES. ^2> 

Bible, *' the Spirit of the truth ;" that is, the Spirit 
who should reveal to the apostles the whole truth 
in respect to Christ and the way of life through 
him. A work more sublime, more far-reaching, 
more essential to the purit}^ and power of the 
new rehgion, than this cannot be imagined. 
For the inspiration of the apostles not only made 
their teaching what it was, clear, spiritual, divine, 
to men of their own time, but it made the New 
Testament also what it is, a source of perfect 
truth and unspeakable good to men of all times. 

WAITING FOR INSPIRATION. 

The command which Christ gave his apostles, 
to tarry in Jerusalem, without entering on their 
appointed work, until they had received the 
promised Spirit, shows that inspiration was to be 
imparted by that Spirit. Luke informs us that 
Christ, before his ascension, reminded the eleven, 
with others, that " repentance and remission of 
sins should be preached in his name among all 
the nations, beginning at Jerusalem ; " adding, 
however, " Behold, I send forth the promise of 
my Father upon you. But tarry ye in the city 



34 DIVISION INTO TWO CLASSES. 

until ye are endued with power from on high." 
In another place he says that their risen Lord 
" commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, 
but to wait for the promise of the Father, which 
ye heard from mc ; for John indeed baptized 
with water, but ye shall be baptized in the Holy 
Ghost not many days hence." Now, it is plain 
from the four Gospels that the twelve had very 
incorrect views of their Master's work and king- 
dom, until after his resurrection from the dead, 
and, indeed, until the day of Pentecost (see Acts 
i. 6, 7). Not one of them appears to have under- 
stood the words of the Baptist : " Behold the 
Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the 
world." And the explanation of this must be 
found in the circumstance that he was a prophet 
inspired of God, while they were not yet inspired. 
They needed, it is true, more faith and love ; but 
they needed especially, as wise master-builders 
in the kingdom of Christ, a thorough and exact 
knowledge of their Lord's will ; and this knowl- 
edge could only be imparted by the Spirit. This 
was a gift which in its highest form could be 
imparted by inspiration alone ; and it was thus 



DIVISION INTO TWO CLASSES. 35 

imparted from the day of Pentecost onward to 
the death of the last apostle. Let this be denied, 
and alas for our confidence in the Bible as a 
standard of appeal in respect to Christian doc- 
trine or duty ! But it cannot be denied by one 
who fairly weighs the evidence. The gifts of 
the Spirit were bestowed on the primitive Chris- 
tians "to profit withal," and in general not so 
much for the benefit of the recipients as for the 
good of the entire brotherhood. This is taught 
in the twelfth and fourteenth chapters of the 
First Epistle to the Corinthians. Hence for 
the apostles as the authoritative teachers of 
the gospel no gift was so important as that 
of inspiration or prophecy. To them, because 
through them to others during the whole history 
of the Church, it was the great pentecostal gift, 
qualifying them as no other could for their 
special ministry. It is not too much, then, to 
say that the apostles were required to wait for 
the baptism of the Spirit because they must 
have the gift of inspiration to fit them for their 
work. 



36 division into two classes. 

Luke's account of pentecost. 

The account which Luke furnishes of the mira- 
cle on the day of Pentecost shows that " baptism 
in the Spirit " included the gift of inspiration. It 
is reported by him that *' a sound out of heaven 
as of a rushing, mighty wind, filled the whole 
house where they were sitting," and this sound 
might betoken in a general way the coming of the 
Spirit ; but it is also said that " there appeared 
tongues as of fire, distributed among them," and 
these tongues could only symbolize a super- 
natural utterance of truth from God. This 
interpretation is established by the words which 
follow : " And they were all filled with the Holy 
Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues as 
the Spirit gave them utterance." Moveover, it 
appears that the subject of their communication 
was "the wonderful works of God." This de- 
scription must lead every candid reader to sup- 
pose that a chief part of the miracle consisted 
in imparting to the apostles new views of the 
Lord's work, together with a mysterious power 
of using languages which they had never learned. 



DIVISION INTO TWO CLASSES. 37 

" That Luke designed to state here that the 
disciples were suddenly endued with the power 
of speaking foreign languages, unknown to them 
before, would seem to be too manifest to admit 
of any doubt" {Hackett). Paul declares it is 
true that " tongues are for a sign, not to them 
that believe, but to them that believe not" 
(i Cor. xiv. 22) ; and, from his account of what 
they were in the churches at the later period 
when he wrote, it is plain that their principal 
office was to attest the truth of the gospel to 
persons without ; but it is no less evident from 
the narrative of Luke that the highest form of 
this gift on the day of Pentecost was also a 
means of declaring the truth to strangers from 
many nations, and a sign that the gospel should 
be preached to every creature. It appears, there- 
fore, that this miraculous endowment was an 
important part of the baptism of the Spirit. 

Peter's explanation. 

Peter's explanation of the wonders of that 
day shows no less clearly that the inspiration of 
the apostles was included in the baptism of the 



38 DIVISION INTO TWO CLASSES. 

Spirit. He pronounces these wonders a fulfil- 
ment of the words of Joel by which God prom- 
ised to pour out his Spirit upon all flesh ; and he 
mentions prophecy not once, but twice, as the 
chief result of that outpouring. Now, the gift of 
prophecy was miraculous, making him who pos- 
sessed it the mouthpiece of God for the time. 
For in the New Testament, as well as in the 
Old, a prophet is always one who speaks the will 
of God without error. His message is God's 
message. Yet Dr. Mahan, apparently influenced 
by one doubtful passage (i Cor. xiv. 24), says, 
"The prophetic power is in all such passages, 
and in other Scriptures, represented as the 
common privilege of all believers." This is a 
surprising statement, and the writer can only 
explain it by supposing that Dr. Mahan neglected 
to verify it by actual examination. If there is 
any thing manifest throughout the Bible, it is 
that prophecy was a special gift, limited in ordi- 
nary circumstances to a very few persons, and 
never the privilege of all. In the earlier years 
of the apostolic age there were, however, for 
obvious reasons, great numbers who were occa- 



DIVISION INTO TWO CLASSES. 39 

sionally visited by the Spirit of prophecy. Of 
these reasons the most important may have been 
the lack of inspired writings to explain the way 
of life through Christ, and apply the doctrines of 
the gospel to the various questions and emergen- 
cies of that new way. But the fact is patent, 
whatever may have been the reasons for it, that 
for a considerable time very many in the church- 
es had the gift of prophecy, so that they spoke 
the truth with divine authority, even " as the 
Spirit gave them utterance." And this, if we 
are guided by Peter's interpretation of the Pen- 
tecostal miracle, was an effect of " baptism in 
the Spirit." 

SIMILAR GIFTS. 

The account of similar gifts afterward be- 
stowed shows that inspiration, or miraculous 
influence of some other kind, was included in 
the baptism of the Spirit. Three instances merit 
particular notice. The first is that of Cornelius 
and his kindred. For the record declares, that, 
while Peter was preaching Christ to them, the 
Holy Ghost fell upon them, and they of the cir- 



40 DIVrSIO.V INTO TIVO CLASSES. 

cumcisioii were astonished "because they heard 
them speaking with tongues, and magnifying 
God." In reporting this miracle to the beHevin^ 
Jews in Jerusalem, Peter said, " When I be^an 
to speak, the Holy Ghor.t fell upon them as also 
upon us in the beginning. And I remembered 
the word of the Lord, how he said, John indeed 
baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized in 
the Holy Ghost." In this case, then, baptism 
in the Holy Spirit included miraculous gifts. 

The second instance is that of certain disciples 
whom Paul found in Ephesus, and rebaptized. 
"And Paul, having laid his hands upon them, 
the Holy Ghost came on them ; and they spake 
with tongues and prophesied." This case is 
just as clear as the preceding. But it must not 
be passed without noting the use which Dr. 
Mahan makes of the question (Acts xix. 2) : 
" Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye be- 
lieved } " For, emphasizing the word *' sinccy he 
infers from this question that the entrance of 
Christians on " the higher life," by the baptism 
of the Holy Ghost, was some time after their 
conversion, and was an almost universal experi- 



DIVISION INTO TWO CLASSES. 41 

ence. But according to the versions of the 
Bible Union, Alford, Noyes, Hackett, and indeed 
of all competent interpreters, the question should 
be translated, " Did ye receive the Holy Spirit 
when ye believed ? " Is it possible that Presi- 
dent Mahan neglected to consult his Greek 
Testament on this passage ? ^ 

The third instance is that of the Samaritan 
converts. They had believed in Christ, as 
preached by Philip, and had been baptized. 
Simon the sorcerer also professed to believe, 
and was baptized ; and, continuing with Philip, 
he wondered at the miracles and signs which 
were wrought. Then Peter and John came down 
to Samaria, prayed for the baptized disciples 
that they might receive the Holy Spirit, and, 
laying their hands upon them, the desired gift 
came. That it was followed and manifested by 
speaking with tongues, or some other miraculous 
activity, is to be concluded from the attempt of 
Simon to purchase the power of communicating 
the same gift. 

Two remarks may be added : First, in the 
baptism of the Holy Ghost, extraordinary powers 



42 DIVISION INTO TWO CLASSES. 

were bestowed in addition to the ordinary sanc- 
tifying work of the Spirit. These powers were 
conferred upon none but true believers in the 
apostolic age ; hence the confidence of Peter in 
the conversion of Cornelius, and in his full 
acceptance by the Lord. And, second, immer- 
sion in the Holy Spirit, regarded as a figurative 
expression, could only be applied to the largest 
measure of the Spirit's influence ; and therefore 
if there were special and visible effects in any 
instances, superadded to his sanctifying work in 
the heart, these instances would naturally be 
distinguished from others, and called baptisms 
in the Spirit. 

The writer has now attempted to answer from 
the Word of God four important questions : 
namely, i. Do the Scriptures separate Christians 
into two classes, or grades, as is done by the 
doctrine of "the higher life" } 2, Do they speak 
of a '•' renewal " of Christians, subsequent and 
analogous to their regeneration, as taught by the 
doctrine of "the higher life" } 3, Do they speak 
of certain Christians as being "sealed" by the 
Spirit after their regeneration, as this is taught 



DIVISION INTO TWO CLASSES. 43 

by the doctrine of " the higher Hfe " ? 4, Do 
they speak of *' baptism in the Holy Spirit/' 
after regeneration, as something to be expected 
by all Christians to the end of time ? All these 
questions have been answered in the negative. 
It has been shown that the '* baptism of the 
Holy Ghost," predicted by Joel and John the 
Baptist, but promised and conferred by Christ 
himself, imparted miraculous gifts to its subjects, 
and among these the gift of prophecy, which 
rendered its possessor an ultimate authority in 
respect to the doctrines taught by him. It was 
also remarked that most of these gifts were not 
bestowed for the special good of the recipient, 
but for the benefit of the whole Christian body, 
which was then small and weak, imperfectly 
trained, and without inspired documents teach- 
ing the new faith. 

It may now be added that Paul recognizes the 
operation of the Holy Spirit, by which faith, 
hope, and love are produced in the heart, as the 
greatest personal blessing enjoyed by the ser- 
vants of Christ, inasmuch as it is the source of 
those graces which are necessary to all Chris- 



44 DIVISION INTO TWO CLASSES. 

tians in all ages, world without end (i Cor. xiii.). 
It may also be remarked that none of those 
Christians, or Christian bodies, that have claimed 
the gift of miracles, of tongues, of prophecy, or 
of infallibility, have added any valuable truth to 
the doctrines revealed in the New Testament, or 
have proved themselves through any long period 
of time better workers for the Master than 
others who disclaim the possession of such gifts. 
The early Montanists, the popes and saints of 
the middle ages, the followers of Edward Irv'ing, 
and many others perhaps, will occur to the 
reader as illustrating the truth of this remark. 
If, however, it should be said by those who pro- 
fess to enjoy " the higher life," that they do not 
lay claim to miraculous powers of any kind, and 
therefore ought not to be classed with the parties 
just named, it must be responded, that, while 
saying this, they should not profess to have been 
" baptized in the Holy Ghost," nor apply to 
themselves those texts which refer to this 
baptism. But, if they give up their appeal to 
these passages, there will be none left with which 
to establish the doctrine of a sudden " renewal " 



1 



DIVISION INTO TWO CLASSES. 45 

of Christians after the time of their regenera- 
tion. 

It must be remarked, still further, that there 
are in the New Testament some indications of a 
gradual decrease of " the gifts " of the Spirit in 
the apostolic age. This appears from a com- 
parison of the qualifications which were pre- 
scribed by the apostles for the seven deacons 
(see Acts vi. 3-8), with those required at a much 
later period for bishops and deacons (i Tim. iii. ; 
Tit. i.). The latter passages are indeed sur- 
prisingly inconsistent with the doctrine of " the 
higher life." For, if this doctrine be true, the 
possession of "the higher life " would seem to 
be the first and most indispensable qualification 
for office in the Church ; but none of the expres- 
sions which are supposed to denote this life are 
used by the apostle in describing the persons 
who were fit to be made pastors or deacons. 
This omission is perfectly explained by supposing 
that " baptism in the Holy Ghost " conferred 
miraculous powers, as that of speaking with 
tongues, of prophesying, of healing the sick, 
and that these extraordinary gifts, having served 



46 DIVISION INTO TWO CLASSES. 

their purpose, were now for the most part with- 
drawn from the Church ; but on no other 
hypothesis can it be readily accounted for. It 
is therefore safe to assume that the most con- 
spicuous spiritual gifts had begun to decrease, 
while sucfi qualities as faith, experience, wisdom, 
aptness to teach, sobriety, hospitality, and the 
like, were set in the foreground. 

OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 

But there are objections to the view which 
h:is now been given of "baptism in the Holy 
Ghost ; " and the reader's attention may properly 
')e directed to one or two of them. The first is 
drawn from a remarkable passage in the Gospel 
of John (vii. 37-39): "In the last day, that 
great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, 
saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto 
me and drink. He that believeth on me, as said 
the Scriptures, out of his belly shall flow rivers 
of living water. And this he spoke concerning 
the Spirit, which they that believe on him should 
receive ; for the Holy Spirit was not yet [given] 
because Jesus was not yet glorified." These 



DIVISION INTO TWO CLASSES. 47 

verses are supposed to teach, by implication if 
not directly, that " baptism in the Holy Spirit " 
is assured to all Christians upon the exercise of 
suitable faith. But it should be observed that 
the words of Christ are a prediction of what 
will be, not of what may be. They assert that 
rivers of living water will flow from the inner 
being, or heart, of him who believes in Jesus, 
and, indeed, of every one who believes in him. 
Nothing is said of peculiar faith, or of faith in 
any particular promise : belief in Christ is the 
only condition named or suggested. The soul 
of the believer is to be a fountain of spiritual 
life, springing up and overflowing in streams of 
blessing to the world. The sacred writer goes 
on to say that the promise of Christ referred to 
the work of the Spirit which was to be accom- 
plished in the hearts of believers after the glori- 
fication of the Lord. This explanation shows 
that the spiritual life, joy, and influence of be- 
lievers were to be greatly increased by the more 
powerful working of the Holy Ghost after the 
ascension of Christ. And this was certainly 
true from the day of Pentecost onward. But if 



48 DIVISION INTO TWO CIASSES. 

it was true of all Christians, or of Christians 
generally, — the work of the Spirit rising in 
power and blessedness with the increase of 
knowledge among believers, — there is no foun- 
dation in this passage for a division of the 
faithful, since the time of Christ, into two 
classes, according to the theory of '' the higher 
life." And if it was not true of all Christians, 
as compared with godly men before the day of 
Pentecost, then it may be referred most natu- 
rally to such as received extraordinary gifts to 
qualify them for extraordinary duties in the 
apostolic age. Though the writer is ready to 
accept the former explanation, he believes the 
latter to be far more reasonable than the view 
maintained by the advocates of the doctrine of 
''the higher life." Indeed, the latter interpreta- 
tion brings the passage into line with all those 
which speak distinctly of the baptism of the 
Holy Ghost, and therefore has much in its favor. 
But the former interpretation is not inconsistent 
with any thing said respecting " baptism in the 
Spirit,'' while it agrees with the apparently 
universal application of the Lord's promise. 



DIVISION INTO TWO CLASSES. 49 

And according to this view the work of the 
Holy Spirit in the hearts of believers, producing 
love, joy, peace, and the other Christian graces, 
is more powerful and fruitful since the exalta- 
tion of Christ than it was before. The same 
is true of his work in bestowing special gifts, 
though the latter were limited to a part of 
believers in the first age of the Church. Hence 
the passage in question furnishes no real basis 
for the doctrine of two distinct grades of Chris- 
tian life. 

A second objection to the view which has 
been taken of " baptism in the Holy Ghost " is 
drawn from certain expressions in the wonderful 
discourse of Christ with his disciples during the 
evening before his agony. For he spoke of the 
Father as about to give them another Comforter, 
who should " abide with them forever," and of 
the Comforter as about to " convince the world 
of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment" 
(John xiv. 16, xvi. 8). Both these expressions 
seem to look beyond the eleven ; the former to 
those who should believe through their word, 
and the latter to persons who should have their 



50 DIVISION INTO TWO CLASSES. 

consciences enlightened through the Spirit's 
work. But, while this is freely admitted, it does 
not follow that the Holy Spirit was to do the 
same thing for all believers in the first age. 
" Are all apostles .? Are all prophets } Do all 
speak with tongues.?" "There are diversities 
of gifts, but the same Spirit." The twelfth and 
fourteenth chapters of the Second Epistle to 
the Corinthians afford conclusive evidence of the 
fact that the Comforter may abide with saints to 
the end of time, and yet none but those of the 
first age be " baptized in the Spirit," and thus 
endowed with extraordinary gifts in addition to 
ordinary grace. The gift of prophecy or inspira- 
tion was certainly needed by the apostles, and 
perhaps by others in the primitive Church ; but 
when the whole substance of Christian truth had 
been put in writing, and placed in the hands of 
believers scattered over the Roman world, it is 
not easy to see what further purpose could be 
served by perpetuating that gift. And the same 
may be said of other miraculous gifts. Plainly, 
then, the work of the Spirit, by which extraor- 
dinary powers were conferred on some members 



DIVISION INTO TWO CLASSES. 51 

of the early churches, might cease with the 
apostolic age, while the work of the same Spirit 
in other forms adapted to the needs of the 
saints might continue until the second coming 
of Christ. Hence the expressions quoted from 
the last discourse of Christ do not amount to an 
objection against the view which has been taken 
in this discussion of *' baptism in the Spirit." 
But if that view remains unshaken, no argument 
can be drawn from passages which refer to that 
baptism, in support of the doctrine that Chris- 
tians are divisible into two classes, one of them 
composed of simple believers who have been 
justified through faith, and the other composed 
of " renewed " believers who have been sancti- 
fied through faith. 

Here our examination of the first distinctive 
point in the doctrine of " the higher life " may be 
closed ; for it has been shown that the Scriptures 
do not agree with the doctrine in question at 
that point by recognizing the two grades of 
Christian life which are asserted by it. 



DEGREE OF SAXCTIFICATION 
CLAIMED. 

npHE second featiLre of this doctrine which 
-*" merits close examination is the estimate 
which it puts on the moral state of those who 
enjoy "the higher life." For whether this state 
is described as "the rest of faith," "perfect 
trust," "assurance of present salvation," "perfect 
love," " evangelical holiness," " Christian perfec- 
tion," " entire sanctification," " Christian purity," 
or " freedom from sin," something more appears 
to be claimed by those who use one, or all, of 
these expressions in explaining their own state, 
than either the Word of God or the history of 
the Christian religion authorizes them to claim. 
It is believed, that owing to incorrect views of 
sin, or of the divine method of sanctification, 
they imagine themselves to have reached a 
higher degree of inv^rd purity than they have 
really attained. If their views of sin and of the 
52 



DEGREE OF SANCTIFICATION CLAIMED. 53 

divine method of grace are plainly scriptural, 
the interpretation which they put upon their own 
spiritual state may be correct ; but if they mis- 
understand the teaching of God's Word in respect 
to the holiness possessed by Christians in this 
life, there is no reason to suppose that the inter- 
pretation which they give of their own expe- 
rience is right. In other words, every type or 
form of religious experience must be tested by 
the Sacred Oracles ; not by single expressions, 
laid hold of and emphasized without regard to 
others which may modify or explain their sense, 
but by the whole teaching of the Scriptures in 
respect to such experience. 

No man who accepts the Bible as true can 
doubt that, in the sense intended by the Saviour 
and his apostles, Christ " will draw all men " to 
himself, and " in the name of Jesus every knee 
shall bow, of those in heaven, and those on 
earth, and those under the earth ; " but it would 
be easy for one studying these expressions, apart 
from others that modify or explain them, to draw 
from them a doctrine inconsistent with other 
portions of the Bible, namely, the doctrine of 
5* 



54 DEGREE OF SANCTIFICATION CLAIMED. 

universal salvation. So likewise every man who 
receives the Scriptures as true must believe that, 
in the sense intended by the sacred writers, 
" Enoch walked with God," and " pleased God," 
that Noah, Job, David, and many other ancient 
saints, as well as Paul and many of the primitive 
Christians, were " perfect ; " and that all believ- 
ers in Jesus are "sanctified" and ''holy;" but it 
would be easy for any one looking at these ex- 
pressions by themselves, and disregarding the 
light which others cast upon them, to attribute to 
the good men referred to a degree of moral purity 
and excellence which they did not possess. 

Once more, it is certain that the words of the 
sacred writer in Heb. iv. 3 — " For we that have 
believed do enter into the rest " promised of old 
to the people of God — are true in the sense 
intended by him ; but whether they refer to a 
state fully realized in the present life, or to a 
state partially realized here and completely here- 
after, or to a *' rest that remaineth to the people 
of God " in heaven, is to be ascertained not by 
an appeal to Christian experience, but by a care- 
ful study of the whole context, if not of the 



DEGREE OF SANCTIFICATION CLAIMED. 55 

whole Bible. The Christian may, indeed, justly 
appeal to experience in proof of his enjoying 
a certain rest of soul in this life ; but, whether 
it is the whole or even a part of that rest which 
is spoken of in the fourth chapter of the Epistle 
to the Hebrews, can only be learned from the 
passage itself properly interpreted. The friends 
of the doctrine now in question will agree with 
the writer in what has been said on this point, 
and must therefore naturally expect their fellow- 
Christians to rely upon the testimony of Scrip- 
ture, as to the moral state of saints on earth, 
rather than upon the testimony of those who 
profess to enjoy "the rest of faith." 

DESCRIPTION OF THE HIGHER LIFE. 

But what is " the higher life" as explained by 
those who profess to know it by experience ? 
What is the degree of sanctification, purity, or 
love, which constitutes it ? " Many who profess 
to have attained it," says a Presbyterian, Rev. 
A. C. Jenkin, D.D., " affirm that in consequence 
of their abiding in Christ by faith, and a realiza- 
tion and consciousness of his dwelling in them 



56 DEGREE OF SANCTIFICATION CLAnfED. 

by his Spirit, tliey possess the assurance of a 
present salvation ; and thus resting in Jesus 
day by day, and moment by moment, they are 
deHvered from sin and freed from anxious 
cares and burdens, and enjoy a sweet, uninter- 
rupted sense of God's favor and communion." 
Speaking for Presbyterians he says, " Its advo- 
cates and confessors do not say they are sinless ; 
they disclaim any goodness or righteousness in 
themselves. They attribute all to Christ ; he 
makes and keeps them whole, . . . The soul 
finds in him all that it needs. ... It is complete 
in him. It puts on Christ, and then it rests, 
trusting in him to do his own work, that of sav- 
ing to tJie tUtermost; and while thus trusting it 
is saved. ... As certainly as he cast out devils 
and healed the leprous, so certainly he can cast 
out evil tempers, and make us every whit whole, 
according as we trust in him from day to day." 

Another writer. Judge T. O. Lowe, says, 
"Very many of those dear saints of God testified 
that, through the overcoming power of the living 
Christ within, they were delivered from all save 
an occasional sense of condemnation, and had 



DEGREE OF SANCTIFICATION CLAIMED. 57 

found in him relief from a life made up of con- 
scious sinning and repenting." Still another, 
R. P. Smith, remarks, " We cannot claim any 
perfection beyond this, that up to the furthest 
line of to-day's consciousness we have the wit- 
ness that we do love God and our brethren, and 
keep a conscience void of offence. ... It is not 
perfect knowledge, perfect wisdom, or perfect 
attainment, but simply a perfect heart — that is, 
a heart yielding without reserve to God — to 
walk in entire obedience and perfect trust." 

Another, Rev. Asa Mahan, D.D., declares that, 
if we are in the " higher life," " we shall serve God 
without fear, in righteousness and true holiness, 
all the days of our lives." The same writer ad- 
mits, '' On a very few questions in moral philos- 
ophy and theology. Brother Finney and myself 
have arrived at opposite conclusions ; " but adds, 
"We differ just where minds under the influence 
of the purest integrity and the highest form of 
divine illumination ( ! ) are liable to differ." The 
modesty of this language is not conspicuous. 

In answer to the question, " Whom, then, do 
you mean by one that is perfect 1 " Mr. Wesley 



58 DEGREE OF SANCTIFICATION CLAIMED. 

says, "We mean one in whom is 'the mind 
which was in Christ/ and who so ' walketh as 
Christ also walked,' . . . one in whom is 'no 
occasion of stumbling.' and who, accordingly, 
' doth not commit sin.' ... He is ' holy as God 
who called him is holy,' both in heart and in all 
manner of conversation." And in reply to the 
question, "When may a person judge himself to 
have attained this } " he says, " When, after 
having been fully convinced of inbred sin, by a 
far deeper and clearer conviction than that he 
experienced before justification, and after having 
experienced a gradual mortification of it, he expe- 
rienced a total death to sin, and an entire witness 
of the renewal : I judge it as impossible this 
man should be deceived herein as that God 
should lie." 

Another Methodist, Rev. R. S. Foster, D.D., 
defines the life in question thus : "We believe it 
a Christian's privilege to attain to a state in 
which he will be ejitirely free from sin, properly 
so called, both inward and outward ; a state in 
which he will do no act involving guilt, in which 
he will possess no unholy temper, in which the 



DEGREE OF SANCTIFICA TION CLAIMED. 59 

entire outward man of the life, and tlie entire 
inward man of the heart, will be pure in the 
sight of God." He also says of " entire holi- 
ness," as possessed by some in this life, " We 
believe it to include, in the second place, the 
spiritual graces, as love, meekness, humility, and 
such like, in perfection, — perfection, not of 
measure, but of kind. . . . These graces exist 
in the entirely sanctified soul without alloy, with- 
out mixture, . . . and in measure correspond- 
ing to the present capacity of the soul possessing 
them." 

These extracts set forth with sufficient clear- 
ness the degree of moral purity which is claim.ed 
by many if not by all of those who profess to enjoy 
" the. higher life." Such as use the most guarded 
language assert that they have "a serenity of 
conscience only rarely and at lengthening inter- 
vals disturbed," and that this serenity of con- 
science is the result of being " saved from con- 
scious transgression." One of these objects to 
the" doctrine" of Methodists on this subject, 
while he indorses their " experience." He thinks 
they lower the standard of holiness prescribed 



6o DEGREE OF SAA^CTIFICATION CLAIMED. 

by the law of God, until it agrees with their own 
experience; and therefore claim to be saved 
from all sins, when they should only claim to be 
saved from conscious transgression. 

The criticism of this writer seems to be just, 
so far as it goes, but it stops short of the whole 
truth ; for the requirements of the divine law are 
so comprehensive and spiritual that no man can 
test his inward life by that law, without perceiv- 
ing that he is a transgressor. If he fails to meet 
the exact, the utmost demands of that law, as set 
before him in the Scriptures, he is not saved from 
conscious transgression. When, for example, he 
is commanded to be holy, because God is holy, 
the standard is one of absolute moral perfection ; 
and, measuring himself and others by it, he will 
see that the words of Christ are profoundly true, 
" There is none good but one, that is, God ; " as 
if Christ had said to the young ruler, " By com- 
paring yourself with any man, however upright 
and devout, you compare yourself with one who 
is morally imperfect, with a sinner ; while the 
only true standard of right character for man is 
the holy character of God." The same result 



DEGREE OF SANCTIFICATION CLAIMED. 6i 

will be reached, if he tests himself by the two 
great commands of the law : " Thou shalt love 
the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all 
thy soul, and with all thy mind ; " and, " Thou 
shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." For, what 
is it to love God with all the heart, and soul, and 
mind ? It is to love him as purely and intensely 
and constantly as a being of the same capacity, 
but without the least taint of evil in the heart to 
weaken, cloud, or interrupt the ardors of holy 
affection, could love him. It is to love him with 
the whole force of the soul, undiminished by the 
least remnant of selfishness. For moral weakness 
does not reduce moral obligation. If it did, 
Satan would be under almost infinitely less obli- 
gation to love God than Gabriel, and, the farther 
any being advanced in sin,' the less of service 
would be due from him to his Maker. The law, 
as a standard of right and duty, has not been 
modified by the work of Christ : it has rather 
been honored and sustained. The theory of one 
law for angels, another for Adam before the fall, 
and still another for believers in Christ, is with- 
out any foundation in the Word of God. It is 



62 DEGREE OF SANCTIFICATION CLAIMED. 

impossible to doubt that the law for all moral 
beings, in all worlds, is one and the same. To 
love God with all the spiritual ardor and energy 
of their undivided being is their simple duty. 

If the lessons of history may be trusted, the 
doctrine and experience of " the higher life," as 
it is called, have a strong tendency to merge 
themselves in the doctrine and experience of 
" sinless perfection." And at the present time 
many distinguished advocates of the former are 
equally positive in their belief of the latter. An 
attempt must therefore be made to answer the 
question, Do any Christians live without sin in 
this world t All are commanded to do so by an 
authority inseparable from their moral being, by 
the voice of conscience in their souls. This 
voice forbids every feeling, purpose, and act that 
is wrong, and enjoins perfect and perpetual recti- 
tude in heart, as well as in life. No less clearly 
does the law of God, as set forth in the Bible, 
require of all a life without sin ; for it commands 
them to be perfect or holy, while it brings for- 
ward the character of God as the standard of 
holiness. But do the sacred writers teach us 



DEGREE OF SANCTIFICATION CLAIMED. (i2> 

that any or all believers in Christ obey the law 
of God completely in this life, so that they are 
free from transgression as well as from con- 
demnation ? 



SCRIPTURAL PROOFS EXAMINED. 

SIXTH OF ROMANS. 

npHE question at the close of the previous 
-^ section may be answered in the affirmative 
as to all Christians, if certain expressions of the 
New Testament are understood in the broadest 
and highest sense, without regard to other 
expressions which qualify and explain them. 
Thus, in the sixth chapter of the Epistle to the 
Romans, Paul says, "Our old man was crucified 
with him, that the body of sin might be 
destroyed, in order that we should no longer 
be in bondage to sin. . . . Reckon ye yourselves 
to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God through 

Jesus Christ Being made free from sin, 

ye became servants of righteousness." Do not 
these expressions teach that the primitive disci- 
ples lived without sin.? They were told to 
remember that their "old man was crucified," 
and urged to " account themselves dead to sin," 
and " made free from sin," but " alive to God," 
and " servants of righteousness." 
64 



SCRIPTURAL PROOFS EXAMINED. 65 

True : but this language was addressed " to all 
the beloved of God in Rome ; " and therefore, 
if it teaches that any of them were living with- 
out sin, it teaches that all of them were living 
thus, — a perfect church, holy as Christ was 
holy, in thought, and word, and deed. But why, 
then, was this sixth chapter written ? Why ask 
of such saints, " Shall we continue in sin, that 
grace may abound ? " " Shall we sin, because 
we are not under law, but under grace ? " Why 
say, " I speak after the manner of men, because 
of the infirmity of your flesh " ? Why exhort 
them, " Let not sin reign in your mortal body, 
that ye should obey the lusts thereof " ? There 
is no evidence in this chapter, rightly inter- 
preted, that any Christian in Rome was living 
without sin, though there is evidence that all 
Christians were living without condemnation, 
having entered upon a new life in which the 
love of God and of righteousness were expected 
to bear rule. 

6* 



66 SCRIPTURAL PROOFS EXAMINED. 

EIGHTH OF ROMANS. 

Passing now to the eighth chapter of the same 
epistle, we find these words : " The law of the 
Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free " — 
at the time of my regeneration — " from the law 
of sin and death. For what the law could not 
do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God 
sending his own Son, in the likeness of sinful 
flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh; 
that the requirement of the law might be fulfilled 
in us, who walk not according to the flesh, but 
according to the Spirit." This language, taken 
by itself, might be understood to afifirm that 
Paul, and others in whom " the law of the Spirit 
of life " was operative, were made free from all 
sin in feeling and conduct, being led by the 
Spirit to fulfil the requirements of the law of holy 
living. But a careful examination of the whole 
chapter will convince any one that this is not 
the apostle's meaning. For he is not speaking, 
in this chapter, of a particular class of Christians, 
but, rather, of the state of all true Christians. 
Hence he says in this connection, " Ye are not 



SCRIPTURAL PROOFS EXAMINED. 67 

in the flesh, but in the Spirit ; if, indeed, the 
Spirit of God dwelleth in you." But may not 
this indwelling of the Spirit, by which Christians 
were proved to be in the Spirit, have been lim- 
ited to a certain number of the saints who were 
enjoying " the higher life" ? By no means j for 
the apostle adds in the same verse, " If any man 
hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." 
Every person, therefore, who truly belongs to 
Christ by regeneration, has the Spirit of God in 
his soul; and one aspect of his experience is 
described by the eighth of Romans. The next 
verse strongly confirms this view : " And if 
Christ is in you " — by his Spirit — " the body 
indeed is dead because of sin ; but the Spirit is 
life because of righteousness ; " a statement in 
perfect harmony with the last verse of the 
seventh chapter, "So, then, I myself with the 
mind serve the law of God, but with the flesh 
the law of sin." For Paul does not say, " the 
body is mortal because of sin," but rather it is 
dead, since the old and sinful nature still exists 
in the man whose heart has been renewed and 
made the dwelling-place of the Holy Ghost. 



68 SCRIPTURAL PROOFS EXAMINED. 

Hence there is evermore reason for believers 
in Christ to "mortify the deeds of the body," 
that is, to slay the deeds of their sinful nature ; 
and in proportion as they do this, under the 
leadership of the Divine Spirit, will they truly 
live. Accordingly the object of Paul, in the 
eighth chapter of this epistle, is to show that 
the Christian is not left to contend with his evil 
nature by the simple force of holy purpose in his 
renewed heart, but that he is assured of victory 
by the presence and power of the Spirit of 
Christ. Left to himself he would be no match 
for the strength of sin in his old nature ; but by 
union with Christ he is not only set free from 
condemnation, but also strengthened with might 
by the Spirit, and set forward every day on the 
way to complete victory over sin. But these 
three circumstances, that Paul represents all 
Christians as being in the Spirit ; that he affirms 
their body, or old nature, to be still "dead," or 
unrenewed, unquickened, though the spirit has 
been made alive ; and that he assumes the 
necessity on their part of mortifying the deeds 
of the body, — prove that he did not look upon 
any Christians as living without sin. 



SCRIPTURAL PROOFS EXAMINED. 69 
OTHER STRONG EXPRESSIONS. 

Similar expressions may be found in the let- 
ters of Paul to the Corinthians. In his first let- 
ter he addresses the members of " the Church 
of God which is in Corinth," as " sanctified in 
Christ Jesus, called, holy; "and in the sixth 
chapter, after speaking of fornicators, idolaters, 
thieves, drunkards, and the like, he adds these 
words : " And such were some of you ; but ye 
were washed, but ye were sanctified, but ye were 
justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by 
the Spirit of our God." It would, however, be a 
strange kind of interpretation that would find in 
these words evidence that any or all of the Cor- 
inthian Christians had at any time lived without 
sin ; for the whole aim of the epistle is to cor- 
rect errors, restore harmony, and advance purity 
in the Church. Just as little, therefore, can the 
striking words of the second epistle, " If any 
one is in Christ he is a new creature ; old things 
are passed away ; behold, all things have become 
new," prove that all persons are made perfectly 
holy by regeneration. A holy principle is cer- 



70 SCRIPTURAL PROOFS EXAMINED. 

tainly implanted in their souls, but much of evil 
still remains. The change is great, and there is 
nothing which it does not affect ; yet the sinful 
nature still exists, though it is felt to be a grief 
and a burden, a foe and a snare. 

FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN. 

But Paul is not alone in his use of lan<njas:e 
which needs to be taken in a qualified sense. 
John resembles him greatly in this respect, as 
will be seen by a glance at his first epistle. 
He says of Christ, that '* he was manifested that 
he might take away sins ; and in him is no sin. 
Every one that abideth in him sinneth not ; 
whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither 
known him. He that committeth sin is of the 
devil. Whosoever hath been begotten of God 
doth not commit sin ; because his seed abideth 
in him ; and he cannot sin because he hath been 
begotten of God." In another passage he writes, 
** Ye have an unction from the Holy One, and 
ye know all things." 

Now, these expressions seem to teach, not that 
some, but that all Christians live without sin, that 



I 



SCRIPTURAL PROOFS EXAMINED. 71 

the holy seed implanted in their hearts makes it 
impossible for them to commit sin, and that the 
anointing of the Holy One secures to them a 
knowledge of all Christian truth. But such an in- 
terpretation of his words makes Jdhn contradict 
himself again and again in the same letter, and 
supposes him to be blind to the actions of those 
who bore the name of Christ. His language must 
therefore be supposed to set forth the character 
and working of the new disposition originated by 
the Holy Spirit, or else to describe the normal and 
ideal life of the renewed soul. In the former 
case it is explained by a remark in the fifth 
chapter, " His commandments are not grievous ; 
because all that is begotten of God overcometh 
the world; and this is the victory that over- 
cometh the world, our faith." In other words, 
whatever may be in the Christian's nature, the 
new principle of faith, begotten of God by the 
Spirit, is holy and victorious, giving character 
to the man as a servant of Christ. The lan- 
guage of John, thus explained, reminds one of 
the distinction which Paul makes, in the seventh 
of Romans and elsewhere, between his "inner 



72 SCRIPTURAL PROOFS EXAMINED. 

man," or true self, and his " old man," or - body 
of sin." 

Slightly different is the view of Alford : '' The 
plain words of the apostle must be held fast, 
and explained by the analogy of his way of speak- 
ing throughout the epistle of the ideal reality of 
the life of God and the life of sin as absolutely 
excluding one another. ... If the child of God 
falls into sin, it is an act against nature, deadly 
to life, hardly endured, and bringing bitter re- 
pentance." This is the second interpretation 
named above. Should both of these be rejected 
as unsatisfactory, it will nevertheless be neces- 
sary to concede with all interpreters that John 
does not intend to affirm the actual sinlessness 
of all Christians, much less the impossibility of 
their committing sin ; for such an affirmation 
would be wholly inconsistent with his own lan- 
guage in chapters first and second, viz., '' If we" 
who are Christians '' say that we have not sin, 
we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and right- 
eous to forgive us our sins, and," by so doino- 
"cleanse us from all unrighteousness," 



SCRIPTURAL PROOFS EXAMINED. 73 

" My little children, these things I write unto 
you that ye may not sin. And if any one have 
sinned," that is, shall have sinned, '' we have an 
advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the 
righteous." After using such language as this, 
it is preposterous to suppose that John would 
represent any or all believers as living without 
sin. 

It has now been shown that some of the 
strongest affirmations of the holiness of Chris- 
tians in the New Testament apply to all be- 
lievers, but do not, properly interpreted, affirm 
their lives to be free from sin. 

STILL OTHER PASSAGES. 

But with these affirmations are often coupled 
a few passages which are thought to imply the 
fact that entire freedom from sin may be reached 
at almost any point of time in a Christian's 
earthly life, or at least long before its close. 

In some of these is the command to be per^ 

feet or holy, thus : " Be ye therefore perfect, even 

as your Father which is in heaven is perfect ; " 

and, " As he that called you is holy, be ye also 

7 



74 SCRIPTURAL PROOFS EXAMINED. 

holy in all conduct ; because it is written, Ye 
shall be holy because I am holy ; " together with 
the exhortation of Paul, " Be ye therefore imita- 
tors of God, as children beloved." Of what use 
are precepts and exhortations, it is asked, if 
Christians are never to comply with them ? The 
law was given to Christians to be obeyed, and 
it is surely safe to conclude that it can and 
will be obeyed by some in this life. 

To this it must be answered that it is mani- 
festly unsafe to infer the moral perfection of even 
a few Christians from the circumstance that all 
are commanded or exhorted to be perfect. It 
would be quite as logical to assume that aU 
Christians obey the law completely from the 
hour of their conversion, as to assume that some 
obey it thus for a month or a year. But the prem- 
ise warrants neither conclusion. If a moral 
law be given by the Most High, it must natur- 
ally be a perfect rule of right, whether it be kept 
by many or by none. Nor can it be pronounced 
useless, though it be kept by none. It may be 
of great service because it reveals the right, or 
what Christians ought to be and to do. and 



SCRIPTURAL PROOFS EXAMINED. 75 

because it shows to those who are saved by 
Christ the degree of sin still in their hearts and 
lives, together with the wondrous grace of God 
to his wayward children. 

In other passages we are told that God desires 
the sanctification of believers. Thus Paul writes 
to the Thessalonians (i Thess. iv. 3), " This is 
the will of God, your sanctification ; " and it is 
agreed that God will impart to his children what 
he wishes them to have. It is even suggested, 
that, if none of them are sanctified fully before 
the hour of death, it must be because God is 
either unable or unwilling thus to sanctify them. 
But are we not assured by the same apostle 
that it is the will of God that " all men should be 
saved and come to the knowledge of the truth " 
(i Tim. ii. 4) 1 And would it not be hasty rea- 
soning to conclude from this language that all 
men will be saved } Besides, it may be truly 
said, that God wishes not only that some Chris- 
tians, but that all Christians, and indeed all moral 
beings in the universe, should be wholly free 
from sin, from this instant onward through eter- 
nal ages ; nay, that he has always wished this in 



76 SCRIPTURAL PROOFS EXAMINED. 

respect to all such beings ; but we do not there- 
fore conclude that there will be no more sin, or 
that there never has been sin. Moreover, it 
should be observed that the sanctification special- 
ly referred to by Paul in his letter to the Thes- 
salonians is somewhat restricted by the context ; 
for it consists, firsts in refraining from fornica- 
tion and adultery, and, secondly, in entering the 
marriage state with a pure and honorable mind, 
not in the passion of desire. Hence the passage 
sets forth what Christians ought to do in obedi- 
ence to the will of God, not what he proposes to 
do in their hearts. Yet in doing this they have 
the gift and aid of his Holy Spirit. 

In still other passages, apostolic prayer for the 
entire sanctification of believers is appealed to 
as implying the fact of complete freedom from 
sin in certain instances. Thus in i Thess. v. 23: 
" But may the God of peace himself sanctify you 
wholly (or throughout) ; and may your spirit and 
soul and body be preserved whole without blame 
in the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." This 
last clause is very important, as is likewise the 
next sentence : " Faithful is he that calleth you, 



SCRIPTURAL PROOFS EXAMINED. 77 

who also will do it." This is Ellicott's transla- 
tion ; and with it may be compared his render- 
ing of I Thess. iii. 12, 13 : "But you may the 
Lord make to increase and abound in your love 
one towards another and towards all [men], even 
as we also [do] towards you ; to the end he may 
stablish your hearts unblamable in holiness in 
the presence of God and our Father, at the com- 
ing of our Lord Jesus Christ, with all his saints." 
See also i Cor, i. 7-9 : " So that ye are behind 
in no gift, waiting for the revelation of our Lord 
Jesus Christ ; who will also confirm you unto the 
end blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus 
Christ. Faithful is God, by whom ye were 
called into the fellowship of his Son Jesus 
Christ our Lord," (Cf. Jude 24.) It seems to 
be evident that the entire sanctification, or the 
sanctification of the whole man, spoken of in 
these and other passages of like purport, is to 
be found accomplished at the coming of Christ ; 
but neither of the passages proves more than 
this. They do not seem to imply that this work 
will be done before the hour of death, so that men 
will live for a time without any sin in this world. 

7* 



78 SCRIPTURAL PROOFS EXAMINED. 

Besides, if the mere circumstance that the apos- 
tles prayed for the entire sanctification of behev- 
ers proves that some of them will be thus sanc- 
tified in this Hfe, why does it not prove that all 
of them will have the same blessing ? In his 
letter to the Thessalonians Paul says, " May 
the God of peace himself sanctify you through- 
out." Yoii, not some of you ; the whole of the 
Church, not a part of it. And he adds, " Faith- 
ful is he that calleth you, who also will do it." 
His prayer was that God would sanctify them 
wholly; and that prayer he was certain the Lord 
would answer — doubtless because he knew it 
was God's plan and purpose to keep his own, and 
render them perfect before the day of Christ. 



PAUL AND JOHN. 

Paul's experience. 

TN reply to the question, Do any Christians 
-^ Hve without sin in the present state ? refer- 
ence has been made to several expressions of 
the New Testament which seem at first sight to 
affirm this. But they affirm it, if at all, not of a 
particular grade of believers in Christ, but of all 
without distinction who are his. And this cir- 
cumstance proves that they were never meant to 
be taken in their full sense as descriptive of the 
actual life of Christians yet in the flesh. For, 
thus interpreted, they would contradict the man- 
ifest purpose of the writings in which they are 
found, as well as the experience of good men in 
every age of the Church. It will be recollected 
that the expressions referred to occur in the 
letters of Paul and of John ; and if these apos- 
tles, when speaking of Christians in general, 

79 



8o PAUL AxVD JOHN-. 

sometimes used language which taken by itself 
could be misunderstood, they may perhaps have 
done the same thing when speaking of them- 
selves. And, as those who profess to enjoy "the 
higher life " believe that these two apostles had 
experience of the same life through grace, it is 
necessary to look at their statements concerning 
the work of God in them. 

A beginning may be made with what Paul 
has said of his life before God was pleased to 
call him by his grace, and reveal his Son in him ; 
for this examination will be of service in show- 
ing his style, or use of language. In his defence 
before Agrippa he asserts that he once thought 
it his duty to do many things contrary to the 
name of Jesus, and that in pursuance of this 
conviction he " shut up many of the saints in 
prisons," and " when they were put to death 
gave his voice against them ; " also that he 
" constrained some of them to blaspheme," and 
" being exceedingly mad against them persecuted 
them also unto foreign cities " (Acts xxvi. 9- 
1 1). Now, can it reasonably be supposed that he 
had no risings of doubt as to the guilt of those 



PAUL AND JOHN. 8 1 

whom he so furiously persecuted, and as to his 
own duty in thus proceeding against them ? Did 
he mean to affirm any tiling more than his gen- 
eral, though bhnd and passionate sense of duty 
in this terrible work ? And when he afterward 
said that he was a " blasphemer and a persecu- 
tor," and had obtained mercy because of his 
ignorance and unbelief ; when he called himself 
" chief of sinners," and declared that for this 
cause he obtained mercy, that in him "first 
Christ Jesus might show forth all his long 
suffering" (i Tim. i. 13, seq), — did he not in- 
tend to charge himself with real and great guilt ? 
Again, in his letter to the Philippians the 
same apostle describes himself in these words : 
" As to the righteousness which is in the law, 
blameless." But does he mean to say that he 
had fully obeyed the law of God, so that it could 
lay no sin to his charge ? If so, why does he 
write to the Galatians, that " as many as are of 
works of law are under a curse ; for it is written. 
Cursed is every one that continueth not in all 
the things written in the book of the law to do 
them " ? or to the Romans, " Both Jews and 



82 PAUL AND JOHN. 

Gentiles are all under sin," and, " Whatever 
the law saith, it saith to those under the 
law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all 
the world become guilty before God " ? In the 
light of these passages it can hardly be supposed 
that Paul meant to claim for himself any thing 
more than great strictness in observing the 
requirements of the law as to external service, 
a strictness which rendered him " blameless " in 
the eyes of men. 

In a similar way ought his language to be 
interpreted, when he speaks of his life and work 
as an apostle. Thus in his second Epistle to 
the Corinthians (i. 12) he says, '* Our glorying 
is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in 
simplicity and godly sincerity, not in fleshly wis- 
dom, but in the grace of God, did we conduct 
ourselves in the world, and more abundantly 
toward you ; " and in the first Epistle to the 
Thessalonians, " Ye are witnesses, and God, 
how holily and justly and unblamably we be- 
haved ourselves to you that believe" (ii. 10). 
These are certainly strong expressions ; but 
considered in connection with the context, and 



PAUL AND JOHN. 83 

with the apostle's use of the words " holy " and 
"blameless" in other places, they by no means 
teach that he supposed himself to have lived 
in Corinth or Thessalonica without sin. It is 
characteristic of this apostle to use intense, 
unqualified language when treating of any partic- 
ular subject, leaving the necessary limitations or 
qualifications to be supplied by the reader, or 
stated in some other place. 

But are there any expressions in the writings 
of Paul which show that he did not regard him- 
self as perfect in heart and life t In his letters 
to the Corinthians this great apostle was com- 
pelled to assert with decision his apostolic 
authority and faithfulness ; yet he says, " So 
let a man account us, as ministers of Christ, and 
stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, 
it is required in stewards that a man be found 
faithful. But with me it is a very small thing 
that I should be judged by you, or by man's 
day ; nay, neither do I judge myself. For I am 
conscious to myself of nothing ; yet am I not 
hereby justified, but he that judges me is the 
Lord. So then judge not any thing before the 



84 . PAUL AND JOHN, 

time until the Lord come," &c. (i Cor. iv. 
1-5). How does this language of Paul compare 
with the words of some among us who claim to 
be living without sin ? For the apostle distinctly 
admits, that, though he is not conscious of un- 
faithfulness in the discharge of his duties as an 
apostle in Corinth, his conscience is imperfect 
and untrustworthy on this point. The Lord, 
and the Lord only, can make manifest the coun- 
sels of the hearts ; and when he comes each one 
shall have the praise due to him from God. 

Very suggestive also are his words in the 
ninth chapter : " I therefore so run, as not uncer- 
tainly ; so fight I, as not beating the air ; but I 
beat down my body, and bring it into subjection, 
lest perhaps, when I have been a herald to 
others, I should myself be rejected." Here the 
body, as in Col. ii. 11, is equivalent to "the old 
man " or '' the flesh of sin ; " and the passage may 
be compared with Rom. viii. 13: ''If ye live 
according to the flesh, ye shall die ; but if by 
the Spirit ye slay the deeds of the flesh, ye shall 
live." Meyer s note hits the .mark : " Paul re- 
gards his own body (thus explained) as the 



PAUL AND JOHN. 85 

antagonist, which he assails with energetic and 
effective force, — even as a pugiUst beats the 
face of his opponent black and blue, — in order 
that the affections which are hostile to the spir- 
itual ego may be subdued." 

But the view which Paul entertained of his 
own moral state is expressed still more clearly 
in his Epistle to the Philippians (iii. 12-15) 
thus : " Not that I have already obtained " 
the full experimental knowledge just described, 
" or have already been made perfect ; but I 
pursue onward, if I may lay hold of that for 
which I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. 
Brethren, I do not count myself to have laid 
hold of it ; but one thing I do : forgetting the 
things behind, and reaching forth to the things 
before, I pursue on toward the mark, for the 
prize of the heavenly calling of God in Christ 
Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, 
be of this mind." The perfection which the 
apostle disclaims in the first of these verses is 
ethical or moral. He declares himself to be in 
this respect striving to reach a goal and obtain a 
prize still before him. This is the interpreta- 



86 PAUL AND JOHN. 

tion of Hackett, Alford, Ellicott, Li^htfoot, 
Meyer, Wiesinger, and Bengcl, not to mention 
other commentators of less distinction. *' In 
the highest fervor," says Bengel, " the apostle 
does not dismiss spiritual sobriety." There cer- 
tainly was no need of his denying twice over 
what he had already denied in the strongest 
and only natural manner, by the words, " If 
by any means I may attain to the resurrec- 
tion from the dead ; " for no one could imacrine 
that he had already experienced the resurrec- 
tion and passed into the glorified state. Besides, 
it is evident that the word " perfect," in the 
last verse quoted above, cannot possibly refer 
to the perfection of saints in their glorified 
bodies. It can only relate to Christians here, 
including Paul himself. But if it refers to 
some or all of the Philippian Christians, together 
with the apostle, it must be used in a sense 
differing somewhat from that of the correspond- 
ing verb in the twelfth verse. Paul had not 
been made perfect in the full sense of the word, 
as applied to moral character ; but, with many 
whom he addressed, he was a mature, full-grown 



PAUL AND JOHN. 87 

Christian, a man of rich and varied experience, 
far in advance, no doubt, of any who now read 
his letters with the greatest confidence in their 
own piety. Tlie conclusion to which this ex- 
amination leads is therefore obvious ; namely, 
that Paul did not profess to live without sin, but 
looked upon moral perfection as a goal which he 
was striving earnestly to reach. 

John's experience. 

And the same may be said with equal confi- 
dence of John ; for his own words afford the 
clearest evidence of his conviction of sin still 
remaining in his nature. " If we walk in the 
light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship 
one with another, and the blood of Jesus his 
Son cleanseth us from every sin" (i John i. 7, 
seq). Whether the word "cleanseth" here 
denotes the pardon of sin through the atoning 
death of Christ, according to the analogy of 
Lev. xvi. 30, — " On that day shall he make an 
atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may* 
be clean from all your sins before the Lord," — 
or whether it denotes an inward purification 



88 



PAUL AND JOHN-. 



through the influence of Christ's death (appre- 
hended by faith) upon the heart, it is at any rate 
in the present tense, marking- the effect of the 
atonement as continuous. It belongs not only 
to the past, but to the present, and it implies 
that there is now sin to be cleansed. Moreover, 
a proper translation of the Greek shows that it 
is not the root principle of sin, but rather every 
particular sin, which is being cleansed. 

All this agrees with the next verse : " If we 
say that we have not sin, we deceive ourselves, 
and the truth is not in us." This statement 
includes the apostle himself in the number of 
those who have sin, and affirms that a denial of 
personal sinfulness as a present fact in all those 
embraced by the pronoun "we" must spring 
from self-deception, and imply a lack of thorough 
honesty of heart. It is a statement of remarka- 
ble clearness, depth, and power, needing nothing 
to make it more luminous and conclusive. 

Yet it is confirmed by the following verse : 
" If we confess our sins, he is faithful and right- 
eous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us 
from every unrighteousness." These words take 



PAUL AND JOHN. 89 

it for granted that all Christians have not only 
sin, but "sins," not only evil in their nature, but 
evil that is manifested in feelings and actions 
which are sinful, and ought to be confessed. 
Hence they remind one of a petition in the 
prayer which Christ taught his disciples, to wit, 
" Forgive us our debts as we forgive our 
debtors," — a prayer which can hardly be sup- 
posed to contain any request unsuitable for 
believers at the present time. Yet the writer 
of these pages has been informed that some 
who profess to enjoy "the higher life" do not 
feel called upon to pray for the forgiveness of 
their sins. If this be so, they have grievously 
misunderstood the state of their own hearts and 
the teaching of the divine Word. The apostle 
adds, " If we say that we have not sinned, we 
make him a liar, and his word is not in us." By 
the first clause of this verse, sin is represented 
as a reahty, passing over from the past into 
the present experience of John and his readers. 
For this is the natural force of the tense of the 
Greek verb used by the apostle ; and, thus inter- 
preted, the thought of the verse is in perfect 
8* 



90 PAUL AND JO UN. 

harmony with the preceding context and with 
the experience of nearly all Christians. 

It has, indeed, been suggested to the writer by 
a professor of " the higher life," that John may 
have referred in verse eighth to a self-righteous 
person, who might say, " I have no sin to be for- 
given," meaning, " I have never sinned." But 
it is evident that this letter of the apostle was 
written to those who were Christians by profes- 
sion at least, while the language just used would 
have been an utter and outspoken rejection of 
Christianity. There is no evidence that any were 
admitted to the apostolic churches save those who 
trusted, or professed to trust, in Christ for the 
pardon of their sins ; but there is evidence that 
some in the churches adopted the Antinomian 
view, that as Christians they were not under law, 
but under grace, and therefore could not sin. 
Against this perversion of the truth Paul had to 
contend earnestly ; but against such a doctrine 
as the one supposed, namely, that some in the 
churches claimed that they had nc-ccr sinned, 
there is no warning or argument in his letters. 
It may be added, that the view of the passage 



PAUL AND JOHN. 91 

in John, which has been set forth in this discus- 
sion, is sustained, so far as its main feature is 
concerned, by the almost unanimous judgment 
of interpreters. 

From this brief study of passages in the let- 
ters of Paul and of John, it appears to be certain 
that neither of these " holy apostles " intended 
to speak of himself as living entirely without sin. 
They were devout, self-sacrificing, godly men. 
In singleness of aim, in strength of faith, in 
ardor of love, in efforts for the salvation of sin- 
ners, they have probably had no superiors. It 
is therefore necessary to conclude that " sinless 
perfection " does not appear in the lives of Chris- 
tian men on earth. " If we say that we have no 
sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not* in 
us." 

EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 

The topic discussed in this volume is one of 
so much importance at the present time, that it 
should be considered in the light of certain pas- 
sages not yet examined. On the titlepage of a 
little book called " The Rest of Faith/' stand 



92 EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 

two verses : " Come unto me, all ye that labor 
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest " 
(Matt. xi. 28) ; and, " For we which have be- 
lieved do enter into rest, as he said " (Heb. iv. 
3). The former passage contains a promise for 
all those who come to Christ, or take his yoke 
upon them ; not for some, but for all ; and it is 
fulfilled in every instance. But there is no evi- 
dence in the passage or context, that the fulfil- 
ment is not gradual, progressive, beginning here 
and culminating hereafter, affording an earnest 
of the inheritance in time and the full enjoyment 
of it in eternity. The latter passage asserts 
that believers in Christ are entering into the rest 
promised to the people of God. But whether 
they enjoy it fully in this life depends, perhaps, 
upon the sense of other verses in the connec- 
tion. In one of these, the ninth, the sacred 
writer draws his conclusion thus : '' So then there 
remaineth a sabbath-rest for the people of God," 
and then in the eleventh founds upon it his ex- 
hortation, " Let us therefore endeavor to enter 
into that rest, that no one may fall in the same 
example of unbelief." Because of their unbelief 



EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS, 93 

most of the Israelites fell in the wilderness, with- 
out entering into the rest of Canaan ; and the 
Hebrew Christians were in danger of departing 
in the same way from the true God. Hence the 
inspired writer exhorts them to " hold fast the 
beginning of their confidence firm unto the end." 
It is quite plain, therefore, that he is thinking of 
a heavenly rest, typified by that of Canaan, — a 
rest of which only a foretaste can be enjoyed in 
this earthly pilgrimage. 

Two or three other expressions of the Epistle 
to the Hebrews are alleged in support of the 
claim that certain Christians lead a life free from 
sin. Among these is the exhortation, vi. i : 
" Leaving the first principles of the doctrine of 
Christ, let us go on to perfection." The perfec- 
tion here referred to is that of Christian under- 
standing or knowledge ; and according to the 
preceding verses that knowledge is progressive, 
requiring time, thought, and action for its attain- 
ment. " For though ye ought, on account of 
the time, to be teachers, ye again have need that 
some one teach you the first principles of the 
oracles of God ; " and, " Solid food belongs to 



94 EPISTLE TO THE IIEBREIVS. 

those of full age, who by use have their senses 
exercised to discern good and evil." With 
Conant, Alford, and Noyes, we have translated a 
Greek adjective which literally signifies " per- 
fect," or " perfect ones," by the phrase, " those of 
full age," for this without doubt is its sense in 
the passage quoted. And obviously the noun, 
''perfection," in the exhortation which follows, 
is used with reference to the same thin^:, matu- 
rity of Christian life and understanding. It is 
therefore quite certain that this exhortation 
ought never to be alleged in support of the view 
that certain Christians become, in the full sense 
of the word, perfect, either in understanding or 
in heart, while still in the flesh. 

Another expression, which is sometimes al- 
leged in support of the doctrine of " the higher 
life," may be found in Heb. vii. 25 : "■ Whence 
also he is able to save to the utmost those who 
come to God through him, since he ever liveth 
to intercede for them." But this language says 
nothing whatever concerning the rapidity of the 
work by which the believer is brought to com- 
plete salvation. It simply declares that Christ 



EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 95 

is able to accomplish fully the salvation of those 
who come to God through him, because he is an 
ever-living Intercessor for them ; and this would 
be just as true if he were to complete the 
work of sanctification at death, and of glorifica- 
tion at the resurrection, as if he were to do the 
former at the instant of regeneration, and the 
latter at the instant of bodily death. It is 
surely surprising, that any one should ever have 
appealed to this passage in proof of the doctrine 
of sinless perfection on earth. 

More plausible is the inference from another 
passage, ix. 14: "How much more shall the 
blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit 
offered himself without spot unto God, cleanse 
your conscience from dead works to serve the liv- 
ing God } " But the reference of this verse to the 
atonement of Christ, as sufficient to deliver the 
believer from a sense of condemnation, is clear. 
Whoever trusts in Christ may draw nigh to God 
without fear, and engage in his service. The 
blood of Christ gives him true peace and bold- 
ness ; in proportion as he apprehends the value 
of that blood will his conscience have rest, with- 



96 EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 

oat being darkened. With this passage may be 
compared three others in the tenth chapter: 
" In which will we have been sanctified, through 
the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once 
for all ; " " For by one offering hath he perfected 
forever those who are sanctified ; " '' Let us draw 
near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, 
having had our hearts sprinkled from an evil 
conscience/' &c. In all these verses, the efficacy 
of the atonement for every one who believes is 
set forth. There is no hint of a division of 
Christians into classes. The perfection and 
sanctification referred to are perfection of stand- 
i7ig in Christ, not perfection of character \}[ixoM^a 
his grace. In other words, the perfection and 
sanctification of the Hebrew Christians were as 
yet in Christ, not in themselves. 

And all this agrees with a passage in the 
twelfth chapter : '' My son, despise not the chast- 
ening of the Lord, nor faint when reproved by 
him ; for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, 
and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If 
ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as 
with sons ; but if ye are without chastisement, of 



EPISTLE OF JAMES. 97 

which all have been made partakers, then are ye 
bastards, and not sons." According to this Ian- 
guage, the true children of God may expect 
chastisement, reproof, scourging ; and a lack of 
these would be an argument against, not for, the 
fact of their adoption into his family. But the 
use of these implies something in their hearts 
and lives which deserves reproof, chastisement, 
scourging ; and that something must be sin. For 
children are not wont to be chastised by their 
parents for weakness, imperfection, or even '' lit- 
tle inconsistencies," but for wrong-doing, for dis- 
obedience, for neglecting what is required or 
doing what is forbidden. 

EPISTLE OF JAMES, 

There are sentences also in the Epistle of 
James which raise the standard of Christian life 
very high, and sharply condemn sin of every 
form. If exhortation to a strictly holy life were 
evidence that Christians did, in some instances, 
live such a life, it would be easy to find that 
evidence in the letter of James, But this is the 
only evidence of such living to be found in that 



98 DOCTRINE OF PETER. 

letter, and it is no evidence at all : it rather sup- 
poses a failure at this very point, so that the 
writer may consistently say, " For in many 
things we all offend" (iii. 2). And there is 
certainly no part of the New Testament which 
deals with religious experience in a less ideal or 
a more matter-of-fact way than the Epistle of 
James. 

DOCTRINE OF PETER. 

The theology of Peter has been characterized 
as the Theology of Hope ; for no writer of the 
New Testament appears to give so prominent a 
place to hope in his account of Christian experi- 
ence. To be sure, he speaks of his readers as 
" children of obedience," as " redeemed from their 
vain course of life with the precious blood of 
Christ," as " having purified their souls in obey- 
ing the truth," as "a holy nation," a "holy 
priesthood," as " established in the truth," and 
as having " a pure mind." Yet his letters prove 
that these expressions denote but a partial and 
incipient holiness ; not a life conformed to the 
prescribed standard, but a life which recoirnizes 



DOCTRINE OF PETER, 99 

that standard and moves toward it. Hence the 
numerous exhortations and admonitions found in 
these Epistles : " As he who called you is holy, 
be ye yourselves holy in all your deportment ; " 
" Pass the time of your sojourning in fear ; " 
" Love one another from the heart fervently ; " 
" Long for the spiritual, unadulterated milk, that 
ye may grow thereby unto salvation ; " " Abstain 
from fleshly lusts, that war against the soul ; " 
" Submit yourselves to every human institution, 
for the Lord's sake ; " " Honor all men. Love 
the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king ; " 
" Ye wives, be in subjection to your own hus- 
bands ; " " Ye husbands, in like manner, dwelling 
with them according to knowledge, giving honor 
to the female ; " " Be sober, and watch unto 
prayer;" "Have your love to one another fer- 
vent ; " " Humble yourselves therefore under the 
mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in 
due time ; " " Give diligence to make your call- 
ing and election sure ; " " Be diligent that ye 
may be found without spot, and blameless in 
his sight, in peace ; " " Beware lest ye fall from 
your own steadfastness ; " " Grow in the grace 



100 DOCTRINE OF PETER. 

and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus 
Christ." These are samples of exhortation in 
the letters of Peter, and they presuppose an 
imperfect life in the Christians to whom they 
were addressed. Rest, holiness, perfection, were 
objects of hope, not of full possession. Peter 
therefore speaks of those to whom he wrote as 
begotten again to "a lively hope," — to "an in- 
heritance imperishable, and undefiled, and un- 
fading, reserved in heaven " for those " who are 
kept by the power of God through faith unto a 
salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." 
They are also exhorted to " hope perfectly for 
the grace that is to be brought to them at the 
revelation of Jesus Christ," and to "pass the 
time of their sojourning here in fear." Their 
"faith and hope" are said to be "on God ;" and 
other expressions of a similar import are used. 
There seems therefore to be no reason to sup- 
pose that Peter thought of Christians in this life 
as belonging to two classes, one composed of 
persons simply justified, and the other composed 
of persons already sanctified. All are. justified, 
and, as clothed in the righteousness of Christ, 



SUMMARY. loi 

all are sanctified ; but none are yet perfect, living 
without sin. Thus James and Peter agree with 
Paul and John, while the Epistle to the Hebrews 
is in harmony with all the rest of the New Tes- 
tament. 

SUMMARY. 

Christ reminds the young man that there is 
but one perfect standard of goodness, the charac- 
ter of God ; he teaches his disciples to pray, 
" Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debt- 
ors ; " and he commends the prayer of the pub- 
lican, " God be merciful to me a sinner." Paul 
teaches that in the new man, having the Spirit 
of Christ, " the body is dead because of sin," 
while the Spirit is life because of righteous- 
ness ; " that such a man " by the Spirit should 
mortify the deeds of the body," that he himself, 
feeling his own moral imperfection, and " forget- 
ting the things behind," was " pressing toward 
the mark," and would have the Philippian Chris- 
tians imitate his example in this respect. John 
declares that, " if we say we have no sin, we de- 
ceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us;" but, 
9* 



I02 SUMMARY. 

" if we confess our sins, he is faithful and right- 
eous to forgive us our sins, and cleanse us from 
all unrighteousness." James asserts that " in 
many things we all offend." Peter represents 
the Christian life of his readers as imperfect, a 
life of hope rather than of fruition, yet exhorts 
them to grow in the grace and knowledge of 
Christ. And the writer to the Hebrews assures 
them of a sabbath-rest into which they should 
seek to enter, while he reminds them of their 
slight progress in Christian virtue and knowl- 
edge. All these representations appear to be 
inconsistent with the current doctrine of '* the 
higher life," and fully justify us in rejecting that 
doctrine as erroneous. 



EVIDENCE OF EXPERIENCE. 

SELF-KNOWLEDGE IMPERFECT. 

TT is noticeable that those Christians who have 
^ passed into what has been called " the higher 
life " rely very confidently upon their own expe- 
rience for proof of their doctrine. Indeed, some 
of them speak as if they knew their own hearts 
thoroughly ; as if there were no secret places, no 
unseen depths, no unrecognized currents, in their 
souls ; as if they could measure every instant 
the utmost capability of their spirits for love to 
God and man, and could therefore detect the 
slightest deficiency in the ardor or purity of that 
affection. But a moment's thought will convince 
any one that his self-knowledge is very imper- 
fect A Christian may certainly know in some 
degree what he does feel, whether of joy or of 
sorrow, of love or of wrath ; but how can he 
know that it is all he could feel ? He may be 

103 



104 EVIDENCE OF EXPERIENCE. 

sure that he has great peace and love ; but how 
can he be certain that his peace is as deep, or 
his love as strong, as it could be ? 

SELF-APPROVAL UNTRUSTWORTHY. 

But may not a Christian safely infer the moral 
condition of his soul from his knowledge of its 
conscious working merely? If some of the 
streams from this fountain are seen to be pure, 
must not the fountain itself be pure ? We reply, 
that, in such a case, every thing depends on the 
perfection of the eye that sees, and the test of 
purity which is adopted ; for a stream may be 
pure to one eye, and very impure to another ; 
clean according to one test, and very unclean 
according to another. An imperfect Christian 
is therefore in danger of overrating the moral 
character of his conscious action. Until every 
film is removed from his spiritual eye, he is a 
fallible and partial judge of his own experience. 
Until he knows that his view of the action of 
his own heart is perfect, he cannot safely infer 
from that view that his heart is perfect. In 
other words, a man must be certain from some 



EVIDENCE OF EXPERIENCE. 105 

Other evidence that he is perfect, before he can 
appeal to his own consciousness in proof of his 
perfection. Hence, if the Word of God distinctly 
taught that some Christians would live without 
sin in the present world, no person could be 
certain of belonging to that number, except by 
a special revelation from God. How much less 
can he be certain of this, when the Word of Sod 
contains no such doctrine, but a holy apostle 
says : " If we say that we have no sin, we deceive 
ourselves"! 

IS UNBELIEF THE ROOT OF SIN ? 

Yet a possessor of " the higher life " writes as 
follows : " I can no longer accuse myself of un- 
belief, the root of all sin." Let us pause to ask, 
What evidence does the Bible afford that " unbe- 
lief is the root of all sin " .'' We are told that 
" the love of money is a root of all evil ; " that, if 
a man " love the world, the love of the Father is 
not in him ; " that " sin is the transgression of 
the law," and " love the fulfilling of the law ; " 
that " God is love," and Christians should be 
" imitators of God ; " but we are nowhere taught 



io6 EVIDENCE OF EXPERIENCE. 

that "unbelief is the root of all sin." It is, in- 
deed, said that " whatsoever is not of faith is 
sin;" but, according to the connection, this only 
means that it is a sin for any person to do what 
he is not convinced is right : in other words, 
disobedience to conscience is always sinful. It 
is also said that " without faith it is impossible 
to please him ; " but it is equally true that with- 
out love it is impossible to please him. 

PURPOSE OF THE Ili DWELLING OF THE SPIRIT. 

But the same writer proceeds thus : " What 
may be in me, below the gaze of consciousness, 
I do not know. If sin consists only in active 
energies, I am not conscious of such dwelling 
within me. If sin consists in a state, as some 
assert, I infer that I am not in such a state, 
from the absence of sinful ener2:ies fiowino: 
therefrom, and more especially from the indwell- 
ing of the Holy Spirit." To begin with the 
last clause : Does the indwelling of the Holy 
Spirit prove any man to be living without sin } 
If it does, then it proves every Christian to be 
thus living ; for the apostle distinctly affirms 



EVIDENCE OF EXPERIENCE. 107 

that, " If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, 
he is none of his." But it is not true, as this 
writer admits, that all Christians are thus hving : 
hence it is not safe to infer that any one is so 
hving, from the fact that the Holy Spirit dwells 
in him. Indeed, the Holy Spirit dwells in hu- 
man hearts to make them holy, not because they 
are already sinless. To the previous argument, 
resting on his own unconsciousness of sin, our 
reply has been given above. His witness in 
respect to himself is untrustworthy ; his eye may 
not be so clear as God's eye, nor his standard of 
duty so high as God's standard. 

CONFIRMATION OF OUR VIEW. 

But there are two other reasons why the testi- 
mony of those who enjoy "the higher life," as to 
the degree of sanctification which they have 
experienced, is unsatisfactory. And the first is 
this : they appear to watch the indications of 
grace in their hearts with far closer attention 
than they do the motions of sin. In some 
respects this may be wise ; certainly it tends to 
the present comfort of the Christian ; but it dis- 



io8 EVIDENCE OF EXPERIENCE. 

qualifies him to bear witness concerning " the 
law of sin in his members." Moreover, as a 
one-sided view of his inward life, it cannot be 
altogether salutary. Perhaps it is better to look 
chiefly at Christ in love and trust, without dwell- 
ing to any great extent on the excellence of that 
love and trust ; but at all events it is certain 
that a man needs to search his heart very closely, 
as with the candle of the Lord, in order to be 
sure that sin does not lurk or nestle therein ; 
and, if we may judge by their writings, this 
species of heart-searching is not characteristic 
of those who rejoice in "the higher life." 

A second reason for distrusting their testi- 
mony in respect to the degree of sanctification 
which they have experienced is this : They as- 
sume that God has promised to deliver them now 
from all sin, if they believe aright ; or, in other 
words, if they believe that he will do this very 
thing. Hence, knowing that God cannot lie, they 
conclude, from their conscious exercise of faith 
in this promise, that the work is actually done. 
The very character of their belief on the point 
in question tends to make them explain away 



EVIDENCE OF EXPERIENCE. 109 

every thing that seems like sin in their desires 
or impulses, or to adopt a view of sin that agrees 
with their view of the promise of God. And so 
we are reminded that there is a Christian, in 
distinction from a divine, an angelic, or even an 
Adamic perfection, and are told that " whatso- 
ever is of faith is not sin " (" Holiness through 
Faith "). But according to this view the stand- 
ard of holiness is a fluctuating one, and for aught 
we can see some of the followers of Christ, who 
have bound their fellow-Christians to the rack or 
the stake for what was believed to be the mortal 
sin of heresy, may have been acting at the time 
"up to the given measure of light upon their 
duty," and were therefore free from sin. The 
error in this view is a dangerous one. Faith in 
Christ does not, as a matter of fact, render every 
act which partakes of it holy. Faith in Christ 
is acceptable to God, not because it makes the 
conduct of the believer in this life sinless, but 
because it unites the soul with Christ who has 
suffered for it. Faith in Christ and him cruci- 
fied is peculiarly the act of a sinner who is con- 
scious of his guilt. Rahab and Samson had 



no EVIDENCE OF EXPERIENCE. 

faith, but they were not free from sin. And of 
one thing at least we may be sure, — that the 
Scriptures nowhere teach that '' whatsoever is of 
faith is not sin." 

THE HIGHER LIFE EXPERIENCE OXE-SIDED. 

But is the peculiar experience of those who 
profess " the higher life " to count for nothing ? 
Far from it. The writer believes it to be one 
type of Christian experience, and on many ac- 
counts a very interesting type. If it is not, in 
his judgment, the highest known to the Church, 
it is not certainly the lowest. If it is one-sided, 
like every thing else in man, it has certain ele- 
ments which go toward making up a perfect 
character. If such sentences as these : " I felt, 
I knew, that I was accepted fully of Jesus," and 
" For several years I have done the trusting, and 
Jesus the keeping," awaken surprise, and lead 
one to ask, " Was a believer ever partially 
accepted by Jesus } Is not trusting a work of 
the Spirit by which the believer is kept .? " (i Pet. 
i. 5), yet there are other expressions in the same 
account which betoken a deep sense of the 



EVIDENCE OF EXPERIENCE. iii 

Saviour's presence and love. If we miss in the 
writings of such men the exhortation, " Work 
out your own salvation with fear and trembling," 
or, " Be diligent to make your calling and elec- 
tion sure," we find the more welcome exhorta- 
tion, "Rejoice in the Lord alway, and again I 
say, Rejoice;" "Be careful for nothing ; but in 
every thing, by prayer and supplication, with 
thanksgiving, let your requests be made known 
of God ; and the peace of God, which passeth all 
understanding, will keep your hearts and your 
minds in Christ Jesus ; " and such passages are 
used in them with a natural earnestness and 
pathos impossible to any but those in whose 
hearts the love of God has been shed abroad by 
the Holy Ghost. If they sometimes claim an 
almost inspired guidance in answer to prayer, 
and look to the Spirit more than to the Word 
for light in respect to doctrine and duty, they 
evidently appreciate more correctly than many 
others the providence of God in the daily con- 
cerns of life, find greater peace in a practical 
reliance on Christ for help in every time of need, 
and give a larger place in thought and feeling to 



112 EVIDENCE OF EXPERIENCE. 

spiritual things. If they seem to forget that 
" we are saved by hope," and that it doth not yet 
appear what we shall be, but we shall at last be 
like him, because we shall see him as he is ; if 
they seem to undervalue the ministry of death by 
which we are separated from the allurements of 
sense, and translated to our home with the Lord ; 
if they seem to think less than did the apostles 
of the change which the resurrection will effect 
by completing the redemption of our whole 
nature ; if they seem to attach undue importance 
to the earnest of joy in this life as compared 
with the far more exceedins^ and eternal weijsrht 
of glory which is to be received in the life to 
come ; if they seem to delight in certain truths, 
to the obvious neglect or the manifest dislike of 
others, thus proving their piety to be intense in 
a certain direction, instead of full and true in all 
directions, — if this, as we think, is true, it is also 
true that they appear to have a very sweet spirit 
of trust in the Lord, and a very strong assurance 
of his love ; that they delight in prayer, and testify 
aloud of the grace which they have received ; and 
that they exhibit a profound interest in the stage 



EVIDENCE OF EXPERIENCE. 113 

or type of religious experience which has been 
vouchsafed to them. Indeed, there are many, 
very many Christians, who must be regarded as 
far behind them in faith and zeal, in whose 
minds and hearts this present world holds a 
much larger place than it does in some who 
enjoy " the higher life." 

ANOTHER TYPE OF EXPERIENCE. 

But, on the other hand, there are not a few, 
ignorant of the peculiar experience in question, 
who, saying little of their own progress and 
nothing of a " second conversion," seeing much 
sin in their own hearts and humbling themselves 
before God on account of it, confessing that in 
many things they offend and fail of perfection 
in all, yet wholly trust in Christ, and devote their 
energies with life-consuming zeal to his service ; 
who work in the darkest places at home, or go 
far hence to the heathen; who esteem others 
better than themselves, and*look after the spirit- 
ual good of others as tenderly as after their own ; 
who are renewed day by day in the inner man, 

and constrained by the love of Christ to warn 
10* 



114 EVIDENCE OF EXPERIENCE. 

men night and day with tears ; who arc pressed 
and bowed down by the weight of care for 
others, so that they would even die but for the 
grace of Christ. And the piety of these seems 
to the writer in more perfect accord with the 
whole truth, as taught by inspired men, than the 
piety which has been denominated " the higher 
life." The conditions of silent but certain 
growth are in it. The work of faith and labor, 
of love and patience, of hope, are manifestions of 
it. It is lowly, teachable, self-distrustful, but at 
the same time earnest, activ^e, uplooking. The 
alternative is not, therefore, between standing in 
shade at the foot of a mountain, or in light on 
its top ; between weak faith and lukewarm affec- 
tion on the low plane of justification, or strong 
assurance and perfect love on the high plane of 
sanctification. The statement of that alterna- 
tive leaves out of sight a great multitude of the 
truest and most self-denying followers of Christ 
in every age of the Church, and may almost be 
said to do dishonor to the grace of God in the 
history of his people ; but there is no reason in 
the actual experience of "the higher life" for 
making it. 



EVIDENCE OF OBSERVATION. 

T T is commonly asserted by professors of " the 
-■- higher life," that faith in Christ and self- 
surrender to him, though only partial, are neces- 
sary in order to a state of justification, while the 
faith must become absolute and the self-sur- 
render complete in order to a state of sanctifica- 
tion. The former of these are conditions of the 
new life, the latter of " the higher life ; " and 
the inward transition from the second state 
to the third is scarcely less marked than that 
from the first to the second. The entrance into 
" the higher life " may therefore be called with 
some propriety a "second conversion," lifting 
one as far above the ordinary life of believers as 
regeneration raises him above the life of unbe- 
lievers. In so far as this claim rests upon expe- 
rience, it has been sufficiently examined ; but 
there is another test which may be justly applied 
by those who have not the experience, namely, 

"5 



Ii6 EVIDENCE OF OBSERVATION. 

the test of obsei'vatioii. " By their fruits ye shall 
know them," said the Holy One. " A good tree 
cannot bring forth evil fruit." This is a severe 
test, no doubt, and liable to abuse; yet, when 
fairly applied, it is as likely to reveal the truth 
as any other, save the Word of God. What then, 
if their theory be correct, might be expected of 
those who enjoy " the higher life.'* " 

A LOWLY MIND. 

Lowliness of mind might be expected. For 
this was characteristic of the Lord Jesus, and 
must be, therefore, of all who resemble him. 
But what is a lowly mind, and how does it find 
expression ? Paul suggests an answer to the 
former question, by exhorting the Philippians to 
" think each other better than themselves " (ii. 3) ; 
and Peter furnishes an answer to the latter in 
these words : '' Yea, all of you be subject one to 
another, and be clothed with humility ; for God 
resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the 
humble" (i Pet. v. 5). Genuine humility tends 
to make one see more good in others than 
in himself, and more evil in himself than in 



EVIDENCE OF OBSERVATION. 117 

Others. Whether this spirit is sufficiently char- 
acteristic of those brethren who rejoice in ''the 
higher life," to justify their claim, the writer will 
not attempt to decide. It is, however, a point to 
be carefully considered by every one who makes 
the claim. 

A DOCILE SPIRIT. 

A teachable spirit might be expected. There 
are truths which every Christian is willing 
to learn, lines of progress in knowledge which 
are almost certain to lead him into green 
pastures and beside the still waters. But this 
cannot be said of all truth. There are doctrines 
which are firmly believed by some, and greatly 
disliked by others. A devout Calvinist finds the 
doctrine of personal election in the Scriptures, 
but a devout Arminian is consciously unwilling 
to discover it there. An honest Baptist insists, 
that, according to the New Testament, nothing 
but the immersion of believers in water is Chris- 
tian baptism, while a sincere Pedobaptist is 
strongly repelled by his feeling from this view. 
Thus Christians are separated into various sects. 
Is the Word of God at fault in this matter .'' Is 



Ii8 EVIDENCE OF OBSERVATION. 

the light so faint that truth cannot be reached 
by candid study ? We trow not. The fault is 
rather with the followers of Christ, who are not 
disposed to welcome all truth. 

But what influence has "the higher life" upon 
its confessors in this respect .? Are they ren- 
dered by it, in any marked degree, more willing 
to examine the evidence for a doctrine which 
they dislike ? Does the Presbyterian who enjoys 
" the rest of faith " feel sure that his Methodist 
brother who has just obtained the same blessing, 
under a different name, will listen with greater 
candor than before to reasons for the doctrine of 
election } Or does the Baptist of like experience 
approach his Presbyterian brother of "the higher 
life," with confidence in his willingness to weigh 
the evidence for believers' baptism more fairly 
than he would have done when only a common 
Christian .? Here is a test worthy of being ap- 
plied by those who profess to have surrendered 
themselves to the Lord, so that they have no 
will but his. We pretend not to single out the 
brethren who are in error, be they Baptists or 
Presbyterians, Methodists or Lutherans, Catho- 



EVIDENCE OF OBSERVATION. 119 

lies or Quakers : it is enough to know that some 
of them must be in error, while assuredly their 
life, if it were moving on as high a plane as they 
suppose, would lead them to embrace truth which 
they now reject. The writer may be allowed to 
testify that he has known some professors of 
"the higher life" to be utterly averse to the 
plain duty of searching the Scriptures for light 
in regard to certain points of Christian doctrine 
or action. This may not be true of all ; but there 
is reason to fear that too many are more inclined 
to be guided by their impressions, given, as they 
believe, in answer to prayer, than by a faithful 
study of the Holy Book. 

A BENEVOLENT HEART. 

Great benevolence might also be expected. 
For " the end of the law is love, out of a 
pure heart and a good conscience and faith 
unfeigned." " Thou shalt love thy neighbor as 
thyself." "He that loveth not his brother whom 
he hath seen, how can he love God whom he 
hath not seen .? " " The love of money is a root 
of all evil." " If any man love the world, the 



I20 EVIDEXCE OF OBSERVATION. 

love of the Father is not in him." These sen- 
tences are easily repeated, but no finite mind 
ever exhausted their meaning. Faith works by 
love, or it is dead ; and on earth there is no true 
love without self-sacrifice. We must suffer with 
Christ for the good of men, if we would be glori- 
fied with him. By the process of sanctification, 
be it gradual or instantaneous, the believer is 
changed into the moral likeness of Christ, " who, 
though he was rich, for our sakes became poor, 
that we through his poverty might be rich." 
Now, it may be said that our Christian brethren 
who,, through perfect self-devotement and un- 
qualified trust, are blessed with "the rest of 
faith," have been delivered from the love of 
money, the desire of fame, the spirit of self-in- 
dulgence, and do steadily illustrate the unselfish 
virtues of a sanctified heart ; that the most ardent 
lovers of their race, the most self-sacrificing mis- 
sionaries, the stanchest heroes and martyrs of 
the faith, belong to this class. If this be so, it is 
a circumstance highly important ; but even this 
would not prove their doctrine correct through- 
out : else we might accept the Moravian creed 



EVIDENCE OF OBSERVATION. 121 

without consulting our Bibles. But, if it is not 
so, their doctrine must be erroneous ; for the 
very pith and marrow of that doctrine is com- 
prehended in the claim that they have reached, 
by the grace of God, a Christian life distinctly 
higher than that of other believers, a state of 
holiness either perfect or closely akin to perfec- 
tion ; and from the nature of the case such a life 
must be one of pre-eminent unselfishness and 
devotion to the good of men. The writer is not 
satisfied by any information within his reach 
that "the higher life" is able to meet this test, 
and relieve itself from the charge of error. Cer- 
tainly he has known many, and read of more, 
who, while lamenting the weakness of their faith 
and confessing daily their sins, were ready to 
spend and be spent for the salvation of the 
lost, were willing and eager to go far hence to 
the Gentiles, and were remarkable for glorying 
everywhere, not in themselves, but in the cross 
of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

The objections which the writer feels to the 
current doctrine of " the higher Christian life " 
may be re-stated briefly as follows : — 



122 OBJECTIONS RESTA TED. 

TIERS OF CHRISTIANS. 

It departs from the plain sense of Scripture in 

dividing Christians into two sections, or tiers, 

one above the other, and separated by a change 

similar and subsequent to regeneration. Of such 

a change and division there appears to be no 

evidence in the New Testament. According to 

that volume every one who is in Christ is a new 

creature, begotten of God, a temple of the Holy 

Ghost. In one Spirit all are baptized into one 

body. Under one King they all constitute a 

royal priesthood, a holy nation. In stature they 

differ every one from his fellow like the trees of 

a forest ; and it would be as natural to divide 

them into ten classes as into two. 

PROGRESS OF SPIRITUAL LIFE. 

It departs from the plain sense of Scripture in 
explaining the progress of spiritual life in the 
soul. For the sacred writers represent that 
progress as a " growth " dependent on the grace 
and truth of Christ ; and growth is an almost 
imperceptible increase of life and power: it 



OBJECTIONS RESTATED. 123 

Cometh not with observation. Or, they describe 
it as a " renewal " which is repeated day by day, 
and not accompHshed once for all. Or, they 
speak of it as a '' cleansing " of the person from 
sin, which must be evermore necessary till death 
comes. But the doctrine in question puts into 
this process a sort of " second conversion," by 
which the soul rises in a moment into a totally 
different atmosphere. 

BAPTISM OF THE SPIRIT, AND PROPHECY. 

It departs from the obvious sense of Scripture 
in claiming for Christians through all time the 
promise of baptism in the Holy Spirit and of the 
gift of prophecy. The motive which leads to an 
assertion of this claim may consist chiefly in a 
hidden desire to find the doctrine of " the higher 
life" in the New Testament; but the tendency 
of it is to destroy all confidence in the Bible as 
the sole standard and test of Christian truth. 
For, if the same inspiration which was given to 
prophets in the apostolic age is possessed by the 
brethren of '' the higher life " now, the former 
have no more cl^m to our confidence than the 



124 OBJECTIONS RESTATED. 

latter. Either the prophets of the first age, and 
the brethren of " the higher life '* in all ages, are 
to be considered infallible when speaking in the 
Spirit ; or neither the one nor the other can be 
trusted as infallible. If the former hypothesis 
be accepted as correct, the Pope of Rome may 
not be infallible, but there are many persons in 
Europe and America who are so ; if the latter 
be accepted, there is nowhere any ultimate au- 
thority in matters of Christian faith. Dr. ]\Iahan 
may be prepared to accept one of these two 
positions, as he must in order to justify his wOrk 
on the " Baptism of the Holy Ghost ; " but the 
writer is not prepared to do this, having as yet 
too much reverence for the Holy Scriptures. 

STANDARD OF HOLINESS. 

It departs, or tends to depart, from the plain 
sense of Scripture in regard to the standard of 
holiness for Christians. That standard, accord- 
ing to Christ himself, is the character of God. 
To this standard he referred the young ruler 
who came to him with the question, " Good Mas- 
ter, what shall I do to inherit eternal life.^" by 



OBJECTIONS RESTATED. 125 

replying, " Why callest thou me good ? There 
is none good but God only" (Luke xviii. 18, 
19). For the manifest purpose of Christ was to 
lift the young man's eye from merely human 
and therefore imperfect standards of goodness, to 
the divine and perfect one. And he presented 
this, not as a standard for angels or for Adam, 
but for all men : it is the only true standard for 
man as he is. And there is no greater absurdity 
in religion than to suppose that the standard of 
holiness has been lowered for the servants of 
Christ. But the most earnest and conspicuous 
defenders of the doctrine under examination 
have again and again set up a different and 
lower standard of moral obligations for Chris- 
tians. If they act, it is said, day by day up to 
the given measure of light upon duty, if they 
" overcome all discerned evil," they are living 
without sin ; a sentiment which is not scriptural. 

SINLESSNESS. 

It departs, or tends to depart, from the plain 
sense of Scripture by asserting that some who 
enjoy " the higher life " live without sin. There 



126 OBJECTIONS RESTATED. 

are many, indeed, who hold the doctrine in 
question, without laying claim to perfection of 
Christian life ; but they seem to be neither 
grieved nor shocked by the language of their 
brethren who claim such perfection. We can 
hardly be in error, therefore, when we say that 
the doctrine of " the higher life " tends strongly 
to the doctrine of " sinless perfection." But it 
seems to us plainly unscriptural to assert that 
any Christian on earth lives without sin. The 
words of Christ to the young man as quoted 
above, the words of John in the first chapter of 
his first epistle, and the words of James, '' We 
all offend," are directed squarely against this 
error, and are singularly forcible and unambi- 
guous. 

UNDERVALUING THE WORD. 

It departs, or at least seems to depart, from 
the plain sense of Scripture by ascribing the 
believer's sanctification to the work of the Spirit, 
almost without the use of truth. Very little 
comparatively is said of the office of truth. The 
substance of the entire process is summed up by 



OBJECTIONS RESTATED. 127 

one writer in the words, " For several years I 
have done the trusting, and Jesus the keeping;" 
Jesus, of course, being supposed to keep his 
people by the Holy Spirit. But it is the doc- 
trine of Peter that God keeps Christians through 
faith, or by means of trust, unto salvation. It 
is by sustaining and nourishing, first, faith in 
Christ, and then love and hope, that Christians 
are sanctified. A servant of Jesus does the 
trusting in no other sense than he does the lov- 
ing, the hoping, the watching, the praying, the 
striving. To all these the Lord moves him by 
the joint agency of his Spirit and his Word. The 
idea of simple passive trust springing from the 
human heart, as the God-appointed condition of 
sanctifying grace from Christ, is foreign to the 
Bible. 

To these objections founded on the Sacred 
Record might be added a number taken from the 
history of the Christian religion, showing in the 
first place, that persons who claim the special 
guidance of the Spirit in all things have been 
proven to undervalue the sure word of God and 
the proper helps to its interpretation ; and, in the 



I 



128 OBJECTIONS RESTATED. 

second place, that such persons have been found 
no more stable in character, pure in faith, and 
self-sacrificing in life, than large numbers who 
are conscious of no peculiar light from the Spirit. 



PROGRESSIVE SANCTIFICATION. 

TF it is a mistake to suppose that the type of 
-*- Christian experience known as " the higher 
life " is more than a very imperfect and one-sided 
development, leaving much of darkness, error, 
and sin in the soul, it would be no less a mistake 
to regard any other type of Christian experience 
as perfect: Yet a different type may have at 
Jeast this advantage, that it includes a full recog- 
nition of remaining darkness and sin, and impels 
the soul to cry out more earnestly for help in 
the conflict with evil. To say more than this 
by way of comparison would be unprofitable. 
"We venture not," says an apostle, "to reckon 
ourselves among, or to compare ourselves with, 
some of those who commend themselves ; but 
they, measuring themselves among themselves, 
and comparing themselves with themselves, are 
not wise." Those words contain an important 

hint for all. 

129 



130 PROGRESSIVE SANCTIFICATION. 
DESCRIPTION OF SAN'CTIFICATIOX. 

It may, however, be well to close this discus- 
sion with a statement of what is comprised in 
full sanctification, and of the means by which it 
is attained. To be of any value, this statement 
must be drawn from the word of God, and 
therefore the language of Christ, as preserved 
by Paul, " It is more blessed to give than to 
receive," will be a convenient starting-point, for 
it casts a flood of light upon the nature of men. 
Assuming, as we must, that the true blessedness 
of man depends upon a right use of all his 
powers and capacities, it appears from this sen- 
tence that he has a spiritual constitution, which 
qualifies him both to receive and to impart good. 
He is made to be a beneficiary, and also to be a 
benefactor. His moral perfection must there- 
fore consist in the greatest possible activity and 
growth of these two sides of his being, — the 
capacity to receive, and the power to give. He 
is dependent on God for being, faculty, and 
grace ; without God he is nothing, and can do 
nothing. A full and joyful recognition of this 



PROGRESSIVE SANCTIFICATION. 131 

fact, accompanied with perfect openness of soul 
to divine influence, is necessary to holiness. 
Toward God he must be wholly and gratefully 
receptive,- longing for his favor as life, and for 
his loving kindness as better than life, and trust- 
ing him absolutely in storm and in calm. But 
this is only one side of a holy life. Love is said 
to be greater than faith, and giving more blessed 
than receiving. This would be incredible, were 
it not asserted by the very highest authority. 
For who would imagine that any thing could 
be more blissful than to welcome the peace of 
God into the soul, than to feel the currents of 
eternal life flowing into one's heart from the true 
vine 1 Yet there is a more joyful experience 
than this, — the experience of bearing fruit, of 
imparting good, the out-going, self-forgetting, 
triumphant activities of love. With unrivalled 
clearness of vision the disciple whom Jesus 
loved saw in his blessed Master the image of 
the Father, and, in words marvellous alike for 
their simplicity and power, declared that " God 
is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in 
God, and God in him." Perfect love must there- 



132 PROGRESSIVE SAXCTIFICATION. 

fore be united with perfect trust in order to full 
sanctification. Let either of them be weak, and 
the other will suffer. If " the lust of the flesh, 
the lust of the eye, or the pride of life," still 
maintains the slightest hold upon the heart, by 
so much will faith and love be weakened, and 
the believer's character fall below the standard 
of holiness. If self-will or self-indulgence, if 
scepticism or credulity, if disrelish of any truth 
or attachment to any error, yet lingers in the 
spirit, it is a sign of the old nature : sin is still 
there casting its shadow on every act, and all 
conceit of perfection is folly. 

MEANS OF SANCTIFICATION. 

It cannot, however, be denied that faith and 
love are capable of increase ; nor can it be 
doubted that evil desires may be weakened, if 
not wholly eradicated. By this double process 
is Christian character improved, ennobled, puri- 
fied, in the present life. 

DOCTRINE OF PETER. 

Both the fact and the means of this improve- 



PROGRESSIVE SANCTIFICATION. 133 

merit are indicated by the words of Peter, " But 
grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord 
and Saviour Jesus Christ." This language is 
generally understood as an exhortation to Chris- 
tians to seek more grace and knowledge from 
the Lord, or to make progress in respect to grace 
and knowledge. But it calls upon them rather 
to grow in spiritual strength by living in the 
atmosphere of the grace and truth of Christ. In 
other words, grace and truth are the elements in 
and by which the power and beauty of their new 
life are to be increased. They are the divinely 
appointed means of spiritual enlargement or 
sanctification. But, when the grace of Christ 
is thus distinguished from his truth, the former 
refers to the work of the Holy Spirit, and the 
latter to the gospel. Sanctification, then, is 
carried forward by the influence of the Holy 
Spirit and of Christian truth upon the hearts of 
believers. This is the doctrine of Peter. 

PRAYER OF CHRIST. 

And the language of Christ in his prayer for 
his own implies the same doctrine; for that 



134 PROGRESSIVE SANCTIFICATION. 

prayer, " Sanctify them in thy truth ; thy word 
is truth," ascribes the work of sanctification to 
God acting by his Spirit, but recognizes the 
Word of God as the element in which the work 
is to be accompUshed. Accordingly believers 
are sanctified, not by the Spirit dwelling alone 
in the soul, and cleansing by his simple energy 
the susceptibilities and affections, regarded as 
the springs of moral life, but by the Spirit dwell- 
ing in the soul, and disposing it to seek and 
welcome the truth as it is in Jesus, by the Spirit 
revealing through the Word the things of Christ 
to the mind and heart. This view accounts for 
the description which John gives of Christ as 
" full of grace and truth," and for his statement 
that "grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." 
It also explains the declaration of our Lord to 
his disciples, " The words which I have spoken 
to you, they are spirit and are life." Faith, 
hope, and love are filled with fresh life and vigor 
by the truth concerning Jesus, which was im- 
parted to the apostles by his own lips, or by the 
Holy Spirit, and which is offered to us in the 
written Word. 



PROGRESSIVE SANCTIFICATION. 135 

RELATION OF THE SPIRIT TO THE WORD. 

Moreover, as the Scriptures present to our 
minds all the religious truth necessary to spirit- 
ual progress here, in language sufficiently clear 
and strong, it may probably be said without 
rashness that the work of the Spirit in sanctifi- 
cation now consists in opening the heart to 
receive that truth, in helping it recall the part 
of that truth which is most needed at any given 
moment for the soul's good, in moving it to 
plead with God for holy impulse to do his will, 
and in giving by direct action and the power of 
suggested truth that impulse to service. At any 
rate, the Holy Spirit does not take the place of 
the written Word, so that a devout Christian 
may expect to grow up to the stature of a perfect 
man without faithful study of the Scriptures. 

THE christian's AGENCY. 

Looking again at the exhortation of Peter, 
'' Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord 
and Saviour Jesus Christ," it will be seen that 
this exhortation suggests more than growth and 



136 PROGRESSIVE SANCTIFICATION. 

the objective means of this growth ; it suggests 
also some kind of voluntary agency in those 
addressed. Hence only can the form of exhor- 
tation be explained. And this voluntary agency 
cannot be limited to communion with God by 
prayer, study of the Scriptures, and meditation 
on the truth : it also includes direct obedience to 
the will of God, or at least a willingness to obey. 
For our Lord affirms, that, '* If any one is willing 
to do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, 
whether it is of God, or whether I speak from 
myself." The spirit of obedience is therefore 
pre-requisite to a right view of Christian truth, 
just as a right view of that truth is prerequisite 
to spiritual growth. A believer's progress in 
sanctification must therefore be determined in 
no small degree by his readiness to obey the 
commands of Christ. It is not, then, surprising 
that some are far in advance of others, nor should 
it be esteemed wonderful that many seem to 
make no progress at all. Yet there is reason to 
hope, that, wherever there is life, there is some 
kind of growth, and reason to believe that in no 
instance is that growth unobstructed by sin, till 



PROGRESSIVE SANCTIFICATION. 137 

death comes, and the " old man " is left behind 
by the released spirit. 

GROWTH VARIABLE. 

Another remark is perhaps necessary to a 
just statement of the case ; namely, that growth 
is njot uniform through all the periods of Chris- 
tian life. It varies with the seasons. It has 
times of cold and drought; times when the 
inner currents are dull and slow ; times when 
darkness and storm prevail, and the very roots 
of faith are strained to the utmost ; times, there- 
fore, when growth seems to be arrested. But it 
has also times of manifest and rapid advance, 
when all things within and without hasten it on, 
when heaven stoops with blessing, and holy sun- 
light and shower refresh the spirit ; times when 
the potencies of faith and love leap forth in 
a thousand currents of surprising volume and 
purity ; times when one rises from a lower plane 
to a higher, as in a moment, and rejoices in a 
new sense of the divine grace ; and these times 
would be far more frequent if Christians were 

more given to prayer and labor. 
12* 



138 PROGRESSIVE SANCTIFICATION. 
PRESSING TOWARD THE MARK. 

Let no one be disheartened at the account 
now given of sanctification. Let no one doubt 
the wisdom of God in postponing our complete 
Hkeness to Christ till we see him as he is. Let 
no one feel that the lessons which he learns by 
earthly experience, after his eyes have been 
opened to the plague and bitterness of sin in his 
own heart, will be of no service to him hereafter. 
And let no one forget that ample provision has 
been made for his rapid spiritual growth and 
purification here on earth. But one day with 
the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand 
years as one day. His work is sure and for 
eternity. Meanwhile it is for us to look upon all 
sin with deep abhorrence, and upon perfect holi- 
ness with ardent desire. It is for us to imitate 
the apostle, and, forgetting the things behind, 
reach forth unto the things before, and press 
toward the mark for the prize of the heavenly 
calling in Christ Jesus. Our country is in 
heaven. Our true life is hid with Christ in 
God. We are on our way to a city that hath 



PROGRESSIVE SANCTIFICATION. 139 

foundations ; and we cannot be too careful to live 
as strangers and pilgrims while in the flesh, 
" pursuing Duty, though we do not overtake her." 
We may not be translated by divine grace in a 
moment of time, from spiritual childhood to ma- 
turity ; but we may go from strength to strength, 
until every one of us shall appear before God in 
peace. The path which leads us from unbroken 
darkness to perpetual day may be "rough and 
long ; " but it will end at last in the celestial city, 
— error dissipated, selfishness overcome, love 
made perfect. There may be a great conflict 
here with the powers of evil within, but faith is 
sure of victory. Then let us press toward the 
mark ! Let us keep the end in view, and " so 
run, as not uncertainly ; so fight, as not beating 
the air." For "we do it to obtain an incor- 
ruptible crown." Putting ourselves in company 
with the apostle, " let us run with patience the 
race set before us." 

" Strive, man, to win the glory ; 
Toil, man, to gain the light ; 
Send hope before to grasp it, 
Till hope be lost in sight." 



140 PROGRESSIVE SANCTIFICATION. 

bunyan's allegory. 

In his " Holy War," John Bunyan represents 
the Prince as warning his recovered Mansoul 
that there were some "friends of Diabolus," 
"sturdy and implacable," "yet remaining in the 
town ;" and as saying on that account, " Where- 
fore, O Mansoul, thy work as to this will be so 
much the more difficult and hard, — that is, to 
take, mortify, and put them to death, according 
to the will of my Father. Nor can you utterly 
rid yourselves of them unless you should pull 
down the walls of your town, the which I am by 
no means willing you should do." But he prom- 
ises after a time to do this himself, " For yet a 
little while, O my Mansoul, even after a few 
more times are gone over thy head, I will take 
down this famous town of Mansoul, stick and 
stone, to the ground ; and I will carry the stones 
thereof, and the timber thereof, and the walls 
thereof, and the dust thereof, and the inhabitants 
thereof, into mine own country, even into a 
kingdom of my Father ; and I will there set it 
up in such strength and glory as it never did see 



PROGRESSIVE SANCTIFICATION. 141 

in the kingdom where now it is placed. Then 
will I make it a spectacle of wonder, a monu- 
ment of mercy, and the admirer of its own mercy. 
And then thou shalt, O my Mansoul ! have such 
communion with me, with my Father, and with 
your lord secretary, as is not possible here to be 
enjoyed, nor even could be shouldst thou live in 
universe the space of a thousand years. There 
thou shalt not need captains, engines, soldiers, 
and men of war. There thou shalt meet with no 
sorrow nor grief ; nor shall it be possible that any 
Diabolian should again forever be able to creep 
into thy skirts, burrow in thy walls, or be seen 
again within thy borders, all the days of eternity. 
Life shall there last longer than here you are 
able to desire it should ; and yet it shall always 
be sweet and new, nor shall any impediment 
attend it forever." 



INDEX. 



PAGE. 

Matt. V. 48 •j:^ 

" xi. 28 92 

" xxii. 37 61 

Mark x. 18 60 

Lukexxiv. 49 .... 30, 34 
John vii. 37-39 .... 46-48 

" xiv. 16 49 

" xiv. 26 30 

" xvi. 8 49 

" xvi. 13 30 

" xvii. 17 134 

Acts i. 4, 5 30 

i- 6, 7 34 

ii- 2, 3, 4 36 

vi-3-8 45 

viii. 12-15, sg 41 

X. 45 40 

xi. 15, 16 40 

xix. 2 J[o sq. 

XX. 35 130 

xxvi. 9-11 . . . . Zo sq. 

Rom. iii. 9, 19 82 

*' vi 64 sq. 

" viii 66-68 

1 Cor. i. 2 69 

" i- 7^ 77 

" iv. 1-5 83 

" vi. II 69 











PAGB. 


I Cor. ix. 26, 27 84 


" xii. 7 ) 
" xiv. ) 


35» 37, 50 


" xiii. passim 
2 Cor. i. 12 . . 






• 43» 44 
. 82 


" i.7^ . . 
" iii. 18 . 
" iv. 16 . 
" V. 17 . 
Gal. iii. 10 . . 








87 Jf. 
• 23 
. 23 
. 69 
. 82 


Eph. i. 13 . . . 








. 26 


" V. I . . 

Phil. iii. 6 . . 








• 74 
. 81 


" iii. 12-15 • 
Col. iii. 9, 10 . . 
1 Thess. ii. 10 








85^^. 
. 24 
. 82 


" iii. 12, i;; 








• 77 


" iv. 3 . 
" V. 23 . 
I Tim. i. 13 sg. 








• 75 
^dsq. 
. 81 


" ii. 4 . . 








• 75 


" iii. . . 
Tit.i 








• 45 

• 45 


« iii. 5 . . . 








. 22 


Heb. iv. 3. . . 








54,92 


" vi. I . . 








• 93 


" vii. 25 . 








. 94 j^. 


" ix. 14 . 








. 95^^. 



143 



144 



INDEX. 



PAGE. 

Heb. xii. 5-7 96 

Jas. iii. 2 98 

1 Pet. i. 15, 16 -jz 

passim CfZ sq. 

2 Pet. iii. 18 ... . 25, 133 

passitn 98 J^. 



PAGE. 

I John i. 8, 9 72 

" ii. I -jT^ 

*' ii. 20 70 

" iii- 5-9 70 

" V. 4 ^\ sq. 



S^fiT' 



